WBk 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY 


LIBRARY 


The  Glenn  Negley  Collection 
of  Utopian  Literature 


*l 


BACK  TO  THE  SOIL 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/backtosoilorfromOOgilm 


Back  to  the  Soil 

OR 

From  Tenement  House  to 
Farm   Colony 

A  Circular  Solution  of  an  Angular  Problem 

By 
Bradley   Gilman 

Author  of  "The  Drifting  Island,"   etc. 
With  an  Introduction  by 

Edward   Fverett  Hale 


Boston 
L.  C.   Page  y  Company 

MDCCCCI 


Copyright,  iqot 
By  L.  C.  Page  &  Company 

(incorporated) 
All  rights  reserved 


ffolonfal  $rt0B 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co. 

Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


DEDICATION. 

I  dedicate  this  book,  first,  to  the  Ward  VT.  Con- 
ference of  Associated  Charities,  in  Boston;  and, 
secondly,  to  the  memory  of  the  youthful  Saul,  son  of 
Kish. 

The  Author. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  publishers  of  this  important  book  have  asked 
me  to  write  a  few  lines  of  introduction,  if  only  to  beg 
readers  to  take  the  book  most  seriously,  as  an  impor- 
tant contribution  to  one  of  the  great  central  questions 
of  the  time.  They  have  asked  an  old  man  to  say  this, 
who  has  had  to  fight  the  worst  tendencies  of  city  life 
in  most  of  his  man's  work,  in  the  daily  routine  of  a 
working  minister.  They  have  thought  that  his  word 
might  carry  enough  weight  with  it,  to  persuade  se- 
rious readers  to  take  the  book,  not  as  another  Utopia, 
but  as  a  real  contribution  to  the  scientific  sociolog- 
ical work  of  this  new  century. 

Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  that  eminent  improver 
of  cities,  who  has  done  so  much  for  the  beauty  and 
health  of  American  towns,  once  said  to  me  that, 
while  he  was  greatly  praised  for  his  work  in  the 
ruralising  of  the  cities,  he  considered  the  complemen- 
tary work  of  the  urbanising  of  the  country  to  be  an 
enterprise  far  more  important  in  the  life  of  America. 

This  careful  opinion  of  a  leader  like  him  will  be 
shared  by  all  men  who  will  diligently  study  the  most 
difficult  problems  of  our  social  order. 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

It  must  be  observed  that  whatever  is  done  must  be 
done  in  accord,  —  by  a  considerable  number  of  peo- 
ple, who  are,  from  the  beginning,  to  bear  one  anoth- 
er's burdens,  and  whose  success  depends,  as  most 
success  depends,  on  the  victory  of  —  together. 

The  prejudice,  natural  enough,  which  keeps  George 
Hammer,  the  blacksmith,  in  a  crowded  tenement- 
house,  where  his  next  neighbours  are  Will  Penman, 
the  teller  in  the  Commercial  Bank,  and  Henry  Jalap, 
the  apothecary  at  the  corner,  springs  from  an  effort 
which  Frank  Question-mark  made  eleven  years  ago, 
when  the  Prospect  Hill  speculators  advertised  their 
lots  for  sale.  Trains  went  out  one  day  to  Prospect 
Hill,  and  no  one  had  to  buy  tickets.  This  was  the 
day  when  lots  were  sold  at  auction.  There  was  a 
pretty  pavilion  on  Everett  Square,  which  was  an 
oval  space  in  the  middle  of  the  lots.  There  was  a 
nice  free  lunch,  —  oysters  and  salad,  yes,  —  with  a 
little  champagne.  The  view  was  exquisite.  Even  the 
birds  sang,  —  and  the  visitors  gathered  long-stemmed 
violets  for  their  wives.  The  lots  were  put  up  for 
sale,  and  they  sold  with  spirit,  so  that  when  ISTos. 
23  and  24  were  sold,  Erank  was  able  to  purchase,  at 
exactly  the  price  he  had  dreamed  of.  He  and  Eanny 
did  not  mean  to  build,  that  year ;  but,  next  year,  — 
"  Oh,  it  would  be  lovely !  " 

Yes !     But  when  Fanny  was  well  enough  to  ride 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

out,  and  they  took  her  on  her  first  ride  with  the 
nurse  and  the  baby,  things  did  not  look  so  attractive. 
The  grass  was  now  very  high,  and  it  even  grew  in 
the  roadway  as  well  as  in  the  house-lots.  There 
were  awful  gulches  in  the  roads,  where  the  water  had 
run  riot  in  a  summer  storm  a  few  days  before.  A 
deserted  shanty  had  a  door  swinging  open,  on  which 
was  a  sign  that  the  agent  would  be  found  at  No.  4 
Mammon  Block,  in  town.  Frank  told  Fanny  that  all 
would  be  quite  different  in  the  next  year ;  and  they 
rode  home,  but  rather  silent,  and  they  did  not  go  to 
the  nursery  to  buy  plants  for  their  garden. 

Before  long  the  tax-bill  came  in  for  the  new  house- 
lots.  Frank  paid  the  tax-bill,  but  found,  a  little  to 
his  disgust,  that  no  other  purchaser  had  materialised, 
and  that  he  was  the  only  "  householder  "  on  Prospect 
Hill. 

He  holds  the  deed  of  his  two  lots  still.  But  he  has 
never  built  his  home  there.  He  still  lives  in  a  tene- 
ment house,  and  tries  to  solace  his  wife  by  calling 
their  home  a  suite  in  an  "  apartment  house."  Their 
children  live,  and  move,  and  have  a  being ;  but  they 
are  sallow  and  pale,  and  not  one  of  them  knows  a 
violet  from  a  China  aster,  or  a  bobolink  from  an  Eng- 
lish sparrow.  Such  is  the  experience  which  most 
dwellers  in  crowded  towns  have,  in  their  efforts  to 
retire  into  the  country. 

What  Mr.  Gilman  proposes,  my  friends,  in   this 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

book,  is  that  earnest  men  and  women  shall  combine 
in  a  noble  enterprise,  in  which  all  of  them  shall  walk 
with  God,  and  shall  work  with  God.  I  will  not 
anticipate  the  reader's  pleasure  by  stepping  one  pace 
forward  on  the  pleasant  path  where  Mr.  Gilman  in- 
vites us  to  walk  with  him. 

So  far  as  that  path  opens  before  us,  I  will  only  say 
that  the  book  offers  a  practical  method  for  removing, 
at  once,  in  one  joint  enterprise,  people  who  are  freez- 
ing or  sweltering  in  the  life  of  one  of  our  crowded 
towns,  into  that  life  of  nature,  —  of  oxygen  and 
ozone,  of  hope  and  of  the  joy  which  belongs  to 
hope,  —  which  is  indicated  where  the  Scripture  S2ijs 
that  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden,  and  placed  in  it 
the  first  man  and  woman,  that  they  might  be  fellow 
workers  with  him,  in  conquering  the  world  and  sub- 
duing it. 

The  book  is  written  and  published  in  Massachu- 
setts. Massachusetts  is  commonly  spoken  of  among 
the  crowded  States  of  the  world.  The  average  popu- 
lation of  Rhode  Island,  of  Connecticut,  of  Belgium,  is 
larger  than  that  of  Massachusetts.  But  Massachu- 
setts is  more  densely  peopled  than  the  island  of  Ire- 
land, generally  called  crowded.  For,  three  million  peo- 
ple, in  Massachusetts,  inhabit  rather  more  than  eight 
thousand  square  miles,  —  say  roughly,  five  million 
and  a  half  acres.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  every  house- 
hold in  Massachusetts  —  if  there  be  ten  persons  in 


INTRODUCTION".  Xlll 

a  household  —  might  have  and  control  sixteen  acres 
of  land,  if  men  wanted  really  to  bring  up  their  chil- 
dren to  work  with  God,  to  walk  with  him,  under  his 
open  heaven,  and  to  see  Him  as  the  pure  in  heart  see 
Him. 

And  larger  opportunities  than  these  present  them- 
selves, in  those  American  States  which  are  not 
"densely  peopled." 

Such  are  some  of  the  simple  considerations,  which 
ought  to  persuade  the  intelligent  reader  of  this  book, 
not  merely  to  "  run  his  eye  "  over  it,  as  an  amusing 
fancy  of  a  wide-awake  author,  but  to  study  it,  as  an 
important  suggestion  for  the  social  order  of  the  days 
before  us. 

Edward   E.  Hale. 

March  25,  1901. 


PREFACE. 

This  book  aims  at  setting  forth  the  hopeful 
possibilities  of  country  life,  in  contrast  with 
the  forlorn  and  desperate  actualities  of  the 
crowded  life  of  our  larger  cities.  It  depicts, 
in  fiction  form,  the  concrete  conditions  under 
which  country  life  should  be  undertaken  ;  and 
it  points  out  many  of  the  resources  and  oppor- 
tunities of  the  country,  which  thus  far  have 
been  overlooked.  If  the  author  had  believed 
that  he  was  merely  adding  one  more  to  the 
long  list  of  books  which  vainly  deplore  exist- 
ing conditions  among  the  city  poor,  he  would 
not  have  set  pen  to  paper ;  but,  because  he  has 
been  convinced,  by  study  and  experience,  that 
the  city  cannot  remedy  the  ills  it  generates, 
and  that  the  country  districts  —  if  properly 
developed  —  can,  in  large  measure,  remedy 
those  ills,  he  has  ventured  to  portray,  and 


XVI  PREFACE. 

even  to  minutely  describe,  his  ideal  of  a  rural 
community  of  working-people. 

He  is  not  ignorant  of  the  many  failures 
which  have  resulted,  in  the  past,  from 
schemes  of  community  and  farm-colony  life. 
He  simply  affirms  that  those  failures  were 
due  to  violations  of  social  law,  which,  in  the 
plan  here  offered,  are  avoided ;  and  he  further 
asserts  that  his  plan  comprises  certain  vitally 
important  features,  which  have  not  before 
been  utilised,  or  even  clearly  recognised. 

The  one  great  barrier  to  farm  life,  for  city- 
bred  poor,  —  solitude,  —  is  overcome,  in  this 
plan,  by  a  unique  method  of  grouping  the 
homes  as  closely  as  possible,  and  by  various 
other  methods  less  novel.  The  addition  of 
"  minor  industries,"  or  "  small  handicrafts," 
to  the  usual  round  of  farm  duties  can  give 
wholesome  variety  of  work  and  increased 
sources  of  income. 

The  book  distinctly  rejects  and  condemns 
"  Socialism,"  or  "  Communism,"  as  a  basis  for 
united  action,  and  urges  a  free  cooperative 
"Individualism,"  by  which  many  enterprises 


PKEFACE.  Xvii 

are  possible,  which  have  been  impossible, 
heretofore,  in  farm  life,  as  commonly  under- 
stood. 

Such  persons  as  have  kept  informed  upon 
the  problems  of  city  pauperism,  and  means 
for  its  relief,  must  have  noted  how  close 
many  writers  have  come  to  the  remedy  offered 
by  the  farm-colony.  This  striking  contrast, 
between  crowded  city  and  sparsely  settled 
country,  led  Carlyle  to  exclaim,  in  his  essay, 
"Chartism,"  "Our  terrestrial  planet — nine- 
tenths  of  it  yet  vacant,  or  tenanted  by  nomads 
—  is  still  crying,  'Come  and  till  me,  come 
and  reap  me ! '  " 

Again,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Barnett,  of  Toynbee  Hall, 
London,  in  an  essay,  says  :  "  To  get  the  young 
of  our  vast  cities  interested  in  country  life,  is 
no  slight  good,  now,  when  migration  or  emi- 
gration seems  the  only  solution  to  the  great 
problem  of  city  overpopulation." 

Hardly  a  writer  or  thinker  or  worker,  in 
the  philanthropic  field,  but  has  cast  his  eyes 
longingly,  but  rather  hopelessly,  at  the  broad 
untenanted  tracts  of  the  country ;  but  so  many 


XVU1  PKEFACE. 

glittering  Utopias  have  dissolved  into  damp 
fog,  that  few  persons  have  dared  hope  for 
successful  colonisation.  This  book,  however, 
dares  to  reopen  the  subject ;  it  ventures  to 
exploit  hitherto  undeveloped  resources  for 
happiness,  offered  by  country  life ;  and  it  indi- 
cates some  of  the  fruitful  lines  of  industry, 
which  there  could  be  entered  upon,  in  con- 
junction with  the  tilling  of  the  soil. 

The  amount  of  money  required  to  launch 
such  a  colony  as  is  here  outlined  would  be 
easily  forthcoming,  if  people  were  convinced 
of  the  soundness  of  the  plan.  In  these  days 
of  magnificent  fortunes,  and  munificent  gifts, 
a  hundred  dollars  or  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  are  often  equally  available  for  sound 
public  reforms  and  wise  philanthropies. 

The  author  cannot  rationally  expect  that 
his  new  theories  of  farm  colonisation  will  be 
found  impregnable  at  all  points,  and  workable 
in  all  particulars  ;  he  simply  believes  that,  in 
the  main,  this  book  opens  a  path  of  hope  for 
the  city's  poor ;  and  he  welcomes  corrections 
and  amendments  from  any,  who,  like  himself, 


PREFACE.  XIX 

feel  deeply  concerned  for  an  improvement  in 
the  social  and  industrial  condition  of  the 
worthy  but  unhappy  poor,  now  swarming  in 
our  large  cities. 

Bradley  Gilman\ 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


CHAPTER 

Introduction ix 

Preface xv 

I.     The  Problem  Introduced         ...  1 

II.     A  Lesson  from  a  Pie        ....  23 

III.  Circle  City  on  Paper       ....  64 

IV.  Circle  City  in  Reality   ....  88 
V.     From  Hedges  and  By-ways      .        .        .  116 

VI.     Ab  Urbe  Condita 133 

VII.     Education  —  Secular  and  Religious     .  156 

VIII.     Rulers  of  the  People      ....  ISO 

IX.     Finished  Products  and  Others      .        .  204 

X.     C— C 228 


LIST   OF  DRAWINGS. 


A  Circle  City  Dwelling 
General  Plan  of  Circle  City    . 
Plan  of  a  Section  of  Circle  City 
First  Floor  Plan  .... 
Second  Floor  Plan 


PAGE 

Frontispiece 
.  74 
.  79 
.  100 
.     101 


BACK   TO   THE   SOIL. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED. 

IF  my  memory  serves  me  aright,  the  problem 
with  which  this  little  book  concerns  itself 
first  faced  me  as  long  ago  as  when  I  was  a  boy, 
and  a  hungry  tramp  came  to  the  door,  asking 
food.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  I  realised 
that  there  really  were  people  in  the  world,  who 
did  not  find  a  bountiful  table  set  for  them, 
three  times  a  day.  From  that  time  on,  at  in- 
tervals, in  various  ways,  I  had  intimations  of 
the  distress  and  need  which  exist  in  many 
hearts  and  homes,  throughout  the  world. 
Sometimes  it  was  a  beggar  asking  alms  on 
the  street,  or  it  was  a  collection  for  "the 
poor,"  taken  in  church,  or  a  paragraph  in 


A  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

the  newspaper,  recounting  the  horror  of  an 
accident  and  the  destitution  of  a  family. 

The  full  magnitude  of  the  problem,  how- 
ever, did  not  come  to  me  until  many  years 
later,  after  I  had  completed  my  studies  at 
school  and  college,  had  passed  through  my 
ordination  service,  and  been  installed  over  a 
parish.  Those  incidents  of  childhood,  already 
named,  were  certainly  the  more  remote  phases 
of  my  experience,  which  led  up  to  the  care- 
ful consideration  and  attempted  solution  here 
given.  But  the  series  of  incidents,  which  led 
more  directly  to  it,  began,  as  nearly  as  I  can 
recollect,  with  a  certain  evening  in  October, 
when  I  came  home,  weary  and  despondent, 
from  my  parish  round  of  duties,  and  took  my 
seat  at  the  tea-table. 

My  wife,  who  is  always  quick  to  discern  my 
moods,  asked  no  questions,  but  ran  cheerily 
on  in  a  little  chit-chat  of  reminiscences  about 
the  sewing-circle,  which  had  met  that  after- 
noon. Twelve  aprons  had  been  made  up,  for 
the  North  End  Children's  Home,  and  a  barrel 
of  second-hand  clothing  had  been  packed  and 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  6 

sent  to  the  Ockmulgee  Coloured  School,  in 
Georgia. 

When  I  had  finished  my  tea,  I  felt  some- 
what refreshed,  and  more  inclined  to  talk. 
This  change  of  mood  did  not  escape  my  watch- 
ful wife's  notice,  and  she  casually  inquired,  as 
she  led  the  way  into  the  library,  "  What  has 
happened,  to  make  you  so  depressed  ?  Noth- 
ing serious,  I  hope."  And  she  sat  down  with 
her  sewing,  at  the  table,  and  I  threw  myself 
on  the  lounge. 

"  Oh,  nothing  unusual,"  I  replied,  gloomily ; 
"  it's  only  the  same  old  story,  a  man  out  of 
work,  and  his  wife  and  five  children  hungry 
and  cold." 

"What  family  is  it?"  inquired  my  wife. 
"  Do  I  know  them  ?  " 

"It's  that  family  on  the  east  side,"  I 
answered.  "Follen  is  the  name.  I  think 
you  carried  some  clothing  and  dainties  there, 
once,  when  the  oldest  child  had  a  fever." 

"Certainly,  I  recall  them.  What  is  the 
trouble  with  them?  Is  Mr.  Follen  out  of 
employment?" 


4  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

"Yes.  He  is  a  printer  by  trade,  and  a 
fairly  good  workman,  I'm  told.  But  they 
have  introduced  two  of  those  new  type-setting 
machines  into  the  office  where  he  works,  and 
he  and  a  dozen  other  men  have  been  dis- 
charged. The  new  machines,  with  one  man 
at  each,  can  do  the  work  of  six  or  eight 
men." 

I  spoke  with  a  little  bitterness,  and  I  was 
conscious  of  a  slight  sense  of  anger  toward 
Howland  and  Stetson,  for  having  made  this 
new  departure  in  their  business.  My  wife 
had  the  same  thought,  for  she  looked  up 
from  her  work  and  said :  "  That  seems  very 
unlike  Mr.  Howland.  I  have  met  him  once 
or  twice,  and  I  have  often  seen  his  name  on 
lists  of  contributions  to  various  charities. 
Probably  it  is  Mr.  Stetson's  doing.  I  have 
heard  —  " 

"  Oh,  no,  my  dear,"  I  interrupted ;  "  you 
are  on  the  wrong  tack,  if  you  will  pardon  me 
for  saying  so.  Howland  is  a  good  man,  and 
so  is  Stetson.  I  have  met  them  several  times, 
and  their  reputation  in  the  city  is  high.     I 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  0 

fear  that  you  don't  understand  the  ins  and 
outs  of  the  matter.  They  mean  well  by  their 
employes,  but  they  are  driven  to  this  step  by 
competition.  You  see,  they  publish,  among 
other  papers,  the  Weekly  Gazette.  Now,  that 
periodical  is  much  like  the  Family  Assist- 
ant, to  which  you  subscribe.  If  I  remember 
aright,  you  said  that  the  annual  subscription 
to  the  Assistant  was  a  half  dollar  less,  this 
year.  I  don't  know  the  facts,  but  I  surmise 
that  the  publishers  of  the  Assistant  have 
introduced  these  new  machines,  and  have 
thereby  lessened  the  cost  of  printing;  they 
can  therefore  afford  to  offer  it  at  a  lower  rate 
of  subscription.  The  Weekly  Gazette  is  a 
paper  very  similar  to  the  Assistant,  and  must 
also  lower  its  subscription,  or  the  people  who 
now  take  the  Gazette  will  soon  take  the 
Assistant,  instead." 

"  So  that  is  what  you  mean  by  '  competi- 
tion,' "  remarked  my  wife,  nervously  biting 
off  a  needleful  of  thread  as  she  spoke. 

"  Yes,  that  is  one  example,  out  of  hundreds 
which  could  be  given,  of  the  harsh,  inexo- 


6  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

rable  working  of  the  economic  principle  of 
competition." 

"Well,  I  don't  like  it,"  ejaculated  my 
wife,  looking  at  me  as  reproachfully  as  though 
I  had  instituted  it,  and  was  responsible  for  its 
harmful  doings.  Despite  my  depression,  I 
laughed  at  the  dear  woman,  so  quick  to  feel 
for  all  unfortunate  souls,  and  I  said :  "  I'm 
sure  I  don't  like  it  any  better  than  you  do; 
or,  at  least,  I  don't  enjoy  seeing  the  suffering 
and  misfortune  it  often  causes.  But  I  didn't 
create  the  laws  of  political  economy,  and  I 
protest  against  your  looking  upon  me  as  if 
I  were  responsible  for  them.  Moreover,  there 
are  many  things  which  we  don't  like,  which 
we  cannot  eliminate  from  the  world ;  for 
instance,  earthquakes,  and  early  frosts,  and 
zero  weather,  and  pneumonia,  and  other  ills 
too  numerous  to  mention." 

My  wife  was  silent.  I  knew  she  was 
thinking,  not  about  the  working  of  hard 
general  laws  of  political  economy,  but  about 
a  very  concrete  case,  —  Follen's  family,  and 
how  she  could   arrange  her  work,  the  next 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  7 

day,  so  as  to  go  and  visit  them.  I  was  on 
the  point  of  going  on  with  my  subject,  far 
enough  to  convince  her  that,  because  of  this 
very  introduction  of  a  labour-saving  printing 
machine,  she  had  paid  a  half  dollar  less  for 
her  subscription ;  but,  at  that  moment,  the 
door-bell  rang,  and,  in  a  few  moments,  our 
maid,  Bridget,  announced  our  neighbour  and 
intimate  friend,  Doctor  Barton. 

We  greeted  him  with  pleasure.  Every  one 
did  that,  for  he  was  a  kindly,  sympathetic 
man,  who  entered  immediately  into  every- 
body's cares  and  troubles.  He  was  hardly 
what  you  would  call  "  genial,"  not  being  quite 
lethargic  enough  for  that  soothing  term  of 
description ;  but  he  was  alert,  interesting, 
sympathetic,  encouraging;  and  those  are 
qualities  upon  which  most  people,  whether 
they  know  it  or  not,  base  their  choice  of  a 
physician. 

"  I  remembered  your  oft-given  invitation  to 
come  in  and  finish  my  cigar  at  your  fireside," 
remarked  the  doctor,  "  and  here  I  am."  And 
he  drew  up  a  chair,  like  the  privileged  friend 


8  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

he  was,  and  asked  me,  in  his  merry,  quizzical 
way,  if  I  had  been  a  good  pastor  all  day,  and 
asked  my  wife  what  she  really  thought  of  me, 
as  an  investment. 

Margaret  made  some  reply,  in  the  same 
light  vein,  and  then  there  was  silence  for  a 
few  moments ;  it  was  that  kind  of  easy,  com- 
fortable silence  which  can  be  indulged  in  only 
among  intimate  friends.  Presently  I  took  up 
the  idea  which  my  wife  and  I  had  been  dis- 
cussing, and  briefly  restated  it  for  Doctor 
Barton's  benefit.  "  Margaret  thinks  the  law 
of  competition  a  great  blot  on  our  civilisa- 
tion," I  said ;  "  but  you  and  I  know,  that, 
despite  all  the  merciless  changes  which  it 
brings,  it  brings  also  many  benefits.  I  was 
on  the  point  of  showing  her,  as  you  came  in, 
that  the  same  type-setting  machine,  which 
throws  five  fellows  like  Follen  out  of  work, 
gives  her  a  lower  subscription  rate  for  her 
magazine  or  newspaper." 

The  doctor  puffed  out  one  or  two  clouds  of 
smoke,  in  his  nervous  way ;  then  he  replied : 
"  Yes,  that  is  true ;  but  I,  personally,  would 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  9 

rather  pay  the  larger  price  for  the  paper,  and 
have  those  poor  fellows  kept  at  their  work. 
That  isn't  good  political  economy,  perhaps, 
but  I  have  recently  seen  several  cases  of  dis- 
tress, coming  from  just  those  causes, — labour- 
saving  inventions,  —  and  I  don't  call  them 
unmitigated  blessings." 

That  was  the  good  doctor's  way.  His 
feelings  were  quick,  and  he  nearly  always 
took  sides  with  poverty  and  distress,  without 
much  regard  for  the  logic  of  the  situation. 

I  shook  my  head,  in  disapproval.  I  believe 
that  I  am  as  deeply  touched  by  pain  and  sor- 
row as  he  is ;  but  I  have  a  tolerably  strong 
sense  of  the  inexorable  working  of  law,  social 
as  well  as  physical ;  and  I  felt  the  futility  of 
sweeping  back  the  ocean  from  one's  dooryard. 
"  You  can't  hold  back  the  progressive  spirit  of 
man,"  I  said.  "He  will  search  out  new  ideas, 
new  and  short  ways  of  doing  things  ;  and,  in 
the  long  run,  I  believe  this  benefits  the  race. 
You  say  you  would  gladly  pay  a  half-dollar 
more,  and  keep  Foil  en  in  his  place ;  but  you 
can  afford  to  do  that.     Not  so  can  hundreds 


10  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

of  other  individuals,  who  have  less  income 
than  you,  and  now  can  afford  to  take  this 
periodical." 

"  Is  this  worthy  gentleman  the  paid  can- 
vasser for  the  Family  Assistant?"  queried  the 
doctor,  facetiously.  Then  he  added,  seriously : 
"  I  have  heard  that  point  urged  before ;  and  I 
suppose  that,  in  the  main,  it  is  correct.  But 
I  sometimes  think  I  would  like  to  look 
through  the  books  of  one  of  those  business 
houses,  after  they  have  taken  on  such  an 
invention,  and  turned  away  workmen,  and 
reduced  the  cost  of  production,  and  lowered 
the  price  of  their  manufactured  goods.  I 
would  like  to  see  if  the  amount  by  which 
they  lower  their  selling  price  corresponds 
exactly  with  the  amount  they  save  in  their 
production.  Or  do  they  make  a  little  mar- 
gin, off  that  reduced  cost  of  production,  for 
their  own  pockets?  I  suspect  that  they 
make  a  little  for  themselves,  and  save  a  little 
for  the  buyers  of  their  goods,  but  the  work- 
man is  the  loser  in  the  transaction.  The 
transferred    workman,    who    is    put    at    the 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  ll 

machine,  becomes  a  good  deal  of  a  machine 
himself ;  and  the  discharged  workmen  are 
pushed  out  to  face  starvation  and  death,  yes, 
and  crime,  before  they  can  get  a  foothold 
again." 

The  hot  little  man  was  growing  more  and 
more  excited,  as  he  spoke.  He  ran  his  hand 
nervously  up  through  his  iron-gray  hair,  and 
his  cigar  nearly  went  out. 

"  You  may  be  correct  in  your  surmises,"  I 
said,  reluctantly,  "but  what  are  you  going 
to  do  about  it  ?  The  employers  have  the 
advantage  of  '  position,'  as  the  military  strat- 
egists say ;  and  the  workmen  have  to  fight 
on  open,  exposed  ground." 

"There,  there,  Walter!"  interrupted  my 
wife,  rising,  "  I  shall  not  stay  any  longer, 
to  hear  you  two  wrangle  over  those  dry 
subjects.  I  must  go  and  look  over  the  pur- 
chases I  made  this  afternoon,  at  Gcrham's, 
and  be  sure  they  are  ready  for  use." 

She  was  putting  up  her  sewing,  as  she 
spoke.  Doctor  Barton,  at  the  mention  of 
"  Gorham's,"    turned    and     looked    at    her. 


12  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

"What  did  you  buy  at  Gorham's?"  he 
asked,  sharply. 

Margaret  regarded  him  for  a  moment  in 
silence.  She  knew  him  too  well  to  think  his 
question  one  of  idle  curiosity,  but  she  some- 
times loved  to  tease  the  irascible  little  man. 
"  I  bought  a  dozen  stoves,  and  a  load  of  hay, 
and  four  new  sewing-machines,  and  —  "  She 
was  mischievously  keeping  tally  on  her  fingers 
as  she  announced  these  impossible  purchases. 
(Gorham's  was  a  dry-goods  store,  I  may  add, 
by  way  of  explanation.) 

"  No,  I'm  serious,"  interrupted  Doctor 
Barton.  "What  did  you  buy?"  And  he 
arose  and  looked  sharply  at  her  with  his 
penetrating  little  gray  eyes. 

Margaret  ceased  her  fun,  and  replied, "  Why, 
I  bought  some  blankets,  and  some  cotton 
cloth,  and  then  I  picked  up  some  very  good 
bargains  in  children's  underwear.     I  —  " 

"  Just  as  I  thought,  "  ejaculated  the  doctor. 
"  That  is  what  I  was  after ;  that  purchase  of 
underwear.  The  garments  were  cheap,  too, 
I'll  venture  to  say." 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  13 

"  Yes,"  said  Margaret,  somewhat  puzzled, 
"  they  were." 

"  Dirt  cheap,  I've  no  doubt,"  continued  the 
doctor ;  "  and  dirt  is  cheap  —  sometimes ;  but 
when  dirt  turns  out  to  be  disease,  it  isn't  so 
cheap.  Now,  what  I  am  driving  at  is  this. 
Wash  those  undergarments  thoroughly,  in 
boiling  water,  before  you  put  them  on  the 
children.  Unless,"  he  added,  grimly,  "you 
want  me  here,  in  an  official  capacity." 

I  saw  the  drift  of  his  remark.  "  You  mean 
— '  sweat-shop,'  I  suppose,"  said  I. 

"  Yes,  I  do ;  just  that.  I  happen  to  know 
that  Gorham  has  the  larger  part  of  his  work 
done  in  sweat-shops,  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
city.  And  when  I've  said  that,  I've  said 
enough  to  explain  my  remark  about  boiling 
those  garments." 

My  wife  still  looked  incredulous.  "Why, 
they  are  perfectly  clean,"  she  began  to  ex- 
plain. "  They  are  white,  and  fairly  well  made, 
and  nicely  folded  up,  and  —  and  —  why,  any- 
body would  think  I  had  brought  home  cloth- 
ing from  a  second-hand  shop  on  Flint  Street." 


14  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

The  doctor  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  sat 
down,  as  if  throwing  off  all  responsibility.  "  I 
would  rather  trust  some  of  that  Flint  Street 
clothing,  than  underwear  from  a  sweat-shop. 
Why,  see  here  !  Do  you,  either  of  you,  know 
the  horrors  of  a  real  sweat-shop?  I'll  tell 
you."  And  the  energetic  little  man  was 
on  his  feet  again,  his  eyes  glowing,  and  his 
cigar  now  quite  forgotten. 

"  Those  garments  were  probably  made," 
said  he,  "  in  some  such  place  as  this.  I  tell 
you  now  what  I  saw  myself,  last  week,  when 
I  went,  with  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Health, 
and  visited  several  of  those  dens.  First,  a 
room  about  twice  as  large  as  this  library  (the 
ceiling  considerably  lower,  and  therefore  the 
cubic  feet  of  air  much  less).  In  that  room 
picture  ten  or  twenty  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, working  at  sewing-machines,  or  with  the 
needle  !  The  place  hot,  close,  damp  with  the 
perspiration  of  those  heated,  unwashed  human 
bodies.  Pale,  diseased  creatures,  bent  over  their 
work,  coughing,  spitting,  swearing.  Hands 
and  faces  grimy  with    dirt.     Unmentionable 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  15 

filth  in  some  parts  of  the  room,  two  or  three 
little  children,  scrofulous  in  appearance,  ly- 
ing on  piles  of  garments,  or  playing  among 
them.  The  odours  were  almost  unendurable  ; 
and  —  " 

"There,  there!"  exclaimed  my  wife,  put- 
ting out  her  hands  in  protest.  "  That  is 
enough.  I  don't  wish  to  hear  any  more.  I'll 
—  I'll  go  and  give  orders  to  Bridget  to  boil 
those  garments ;  if,  indeed,  I  keep  them.  I 
really  think  I  would  better  give  them  away." 

"  Well,"  said  Doctor  Barton,  sententiously, 
"boil  them,  just  the  same.  Don't  take  the 
responsibility  of  spreading  disease,  even  among 
your  dependent  families.  Walter,  give  me  a 
match  !     My  cigar  has  gone  out." 

Margaret  presently  left  us,  and  we  two  fell 
into  a  further  conversation  about  the  sweat- 
shops. "  There  are  hundreds  of  them,  in  each 
of  our  larger  cities,"  said  Doctor  Barton, 
speaking  more  calmly.  "  They  must  be  a 
prolific  source  of  disease."  And  he  told  me, 
more  in  detail,  some  of  the  forms  of  disease 
which    were    probably  engendered    in   these 


16  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

dens,  and  sent  out  from  them  into  better 
classes  of  families. 

I  listened  to  him  rather  gloomily,  for  I 
knew,  more  or  less  distinctly,  the  dreadful 
character  of  such  places.  I  partly  listened 
and  partly  conjectured,  as  to  the  possible 
remedy  for  this  crying  evil.  When  Doctor 
Barton  finished  his  chapter  of  horrors,  I  said 
to  him :  "  All  this  is  the  exact,  awful  truth ; 
I  know  you  don't  exaggerate  one  point.  But 
the  remedy !  What  is  the  way  to  prevent 
the  existence  of  such  cesspools  of  distress 
and  disease  ?" 

The  sympathetic  physician's  answer  was 
prompt.  "  I  would  have  laws  regulating  the 
size  and  character  of  all  buildings  and  apart- 
ments used  for  labour ; "  he  said,  firmly. 
"  And,  what  is  more,  I  would  have  such  laws 
enforced,  no  matter  who  owns  the  building ! 
No  matter  if  it  is  a  clergyman,  or  a  rich 
parish.  Some  of  our  churches  actually  hold 
property,  tenement-houses,  used  as  sweat- 
shops ;  and,  I'm  told,  they  are  hard  landlords 
to  deal  with." 


THE  PROBLEM'  INTRODUCED.       17 

"  I'm  not  responsible  for  them ; "  I  said, 
smiling,  for  the  angry  little  doctor  was  look- 
ing at  me  in  a  threatening  manner.  "  I  am 
sure  that  my  church  has  no  such  investments. 
But,  even  if  you  could  regulate  the  sanitary 
conditions  of  these  poor  creatures,  you  have 
not  helped  them  much  toward  keeping  above 
the  starvation  level.  What  were  the  prices 
paid  them?  I  have  read,  but  have  for- 
gotten." 

"  I  talked  with  several  of  them,  and  they 
told  me  that  they  got  only  forty  and  sixty 
cents  for  making  a  garment  which  retailed 
for  three  and  five  dollars ;  and  twenty  cents 
on  one  that  sold,  retail,  for  seventy-five  cents. 
Several  of  them  declared  that,  though  they 
worked  ten  hours  and  more  each  day,  they 
could  not  earn  much  above  four  dollars  a 
week.  Shameful !  Isn't  it  ?  I  think  we 
ought  to  have  a  law  that  would  forbid  any 
employer  paying  less  than  a  dollar  and  a  half 
a  day." 

"But  that  wouldn't  do,"  I  remonstrated. 
"  The  employer  might  at  once  discharge  his 


18  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

work-people.  Then  they  would  be  worse  off 
than  before ;  nothing  a  week  is  certainly 
worse  than  four  dollars  a  week." 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,"  growled  the 
irate  doctor,  shaking  his  round,  gray,  curly 
head.  "  I'm  not  so  sure  that  quick  starva- 
tion isn't   better  than   the  prolonged    kind." 

"  In  some  of  our  cities,"  I  continued,  "  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  arouse  public 
opinion,  and  boycott  stores  which  sell  these 
sweat-shop  garments.     I  recently  —  " 

"  Good  idea ! "  interrupted  the  doctor. 
"  Excellent !  That  ought  to  bring  the  store- 
keepers and  contractors  to  their  senses." 

"  I  was  about  to  say,"  I  went  on,  "  that 
I  recently  received  a  letter  from  a  friend  of 
mine,  in  a  Western  city,  and  she  told  me 
that  where  she  lived  there  was  much  public 
indignation  upon  the  subject,  and  many 
people  had  signed  a  pledge,  promising  not 
to  buy  garments,  which  they  knew,  from  the 
prices.,  must  have  been  made  in  sweat-shops." 

"  I  only  hope  they'll  stick  to  it,"  exclaimed 
the    doctor,   promptly.     "  Those    movements 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  19 

often  start  out  bravely,  but  soon  fade  and 
vanish." 

"  You  are  right,"  said  I.  "  I  often  think 
that,  while  the  new  and  much  used  word 
'  initiative '  is  a  good  one,  there  is  a  better, 
and  that  is  *  continuance.'  I  have  often 
observed  that  the  well-worn  maxim,  l  It  is 
the  first  step  that  costs,'  breaks  down  in 
actual  practice ;  and  the  first  step  often 
costs  least,  and  the  subsequent  steps  are 
the  difficult  and  decisive  ones.  However, 
there  is  one  point  connected  with  that  sale 
of  sweat-shop  garments,  which  offers  diffi- 
culties. If  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  women 
pledge  themselves  to  refrain  from  buying 
such  goods,  and  keep  to  their  pledge,  they 
may  succeed  in  driving  those  goods  out  of 
the  market;  but,  in  doing  so,  they  have  put 
them  out  of  the  reach  of  many  people,  pos- 
sessed of  less  wealth  than  themselves,  who 
cannot  afford  to  pay  larger  prices,  and  must 
go  without." 

"  Oh,  I  see,"  remarked  Doctor  Barton, 
thoughtfully ;  "  you  mean  that  the  low  price 


20  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

of  these  sweat-shop  goods  puts  them  within 
reach  of  a  large  number  of  people,  who, 
otherwise,  would  be  compelled  to  go  without 
them." 

"  Precisely  !  "  I  assented.  "  And  I  don't 
quite  know  what  to  say  to  that.  It  compli- 
cates the  problem  greatly.  It  seems  as 
though  the  distress  and  disease  of  one  class 
of  the  community  resulted  (leaving  out  the 
question  of  infectious  dangers)  in  the  bet- 
terment of  another  class.  One  class  seems 
to  live  on  the  degradation  and  distress  of 
another  class.  It's  a  hard  problem,  isn't 
it?"  I  added,  as  my  friend  rose  and  thrust 
his  hands  into  his  pockets,  and  knitted  his 
brows,  in  silence. 

He  paced  the  room  a  few  moments,  and 
remarked,  "  I  sometimes  think  this  world  is 
a  dreadful  blunder,  and  (pardon  me)  that 
the  Creator  made  awfully  bad  work  of    it." 

"  It  sometimes  looks  so,"  I  said,  smiling. 
"It  has  occasionally  struck  me  that  way,  I 
confess,  but  I  then  remind  myself  that  the 
Creator   isn't   through   with   his    work ;    the 


THE    PROBLEM    INTRODUCED.  21 

world  isn't  a  finished  job,  so  to  speak ;  and 
I  hardly  think  we  are  warranted  in  judging 
it,  while  it  is  only  partly  completed." 

The  warm-hearted  man  put  out  his  hand, 
and  met  my  smile  with  one  of  his  own 
sympathetic,  penetrating  smiles,  and  said 
that  he  must  be  on  his  way  home.  "  I 
thought,  for  the  moment,"  said  he,  "  that 
I  was  Atlas,  and  was  carrying  the  world." 
Then  his  face  grew  sober  again,  as  he  said, 
walking  out  through  the  hall,  "  What  a  hard, 
hard  problem  this  city  destitution  is,  though  ! 
I  do  believe  I  would  change  some  things,  in 
quick  order,  if  I  had  the  power." 

"  That  is  probably  what  you  would  do, 
rash  man,"  I  said,  with  mock  severity  ;  "  but 
I  think  that,  in  your  well-meant  reforms,  you 
would  probably  bring  about  one  or  two  bad 
results." 

"  And  pray  what  would  they  be  ?  "  he  asked, 
good-naturedly. 

"  Either  you  would  bring  about  greater 
confusion,  in  ameliorating  the  present  condi- 
tion of  things,  or    you  would  reduce  life  to 


22  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

a    bare    simplicity   which    would    make    it 
extremely  uninteresting." 

The  doctor  laughed.  "  The  world  is 
certainly  interesting, "  he  admitted,  and 
wrapped  his  fur-lined  coat  around  his  slender, 
wiry  body,  and  went  out,  with  a  cheery 
"Good  night." 


CHAPTER  II. 

A   LESSON    FROM    A   PIE. 

A  FEW  days  afterward,  I  was  walking 
home  from  a  meeting  of  our  Ward 
Conference  of  Associated  Charities,  when  my 
friend  Royce  overtook  me,  and  we  walked 
on  together. 

Royce  was  one  of  the  best  types  of  the 
"  self-made  man"  that  I  ever  saw.  He  was 
clear-headed,  quick  in  all  his  perceptions, 
yet  controlled  in  his  speech,  self-reliant,  and 
even  autocratic,  —  as  such  men  often  are,  — 
with  a  severe  countenance  tempered  now 
and  then  by  a  caustic  smile ;  but,  under- 
neath, a  man  of  warm  heart  and  generous 
motives.  He  was  a  heavy  stockholder  in 
the  Amphion  Mills,  and  had  just  come  in 
from  the  mills,  to  sit  for  an  hour  at  his 
club. 

23 


24  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

As  we  passed  along  in  front  of  Preston's 
department  store,  my  companion  bowed  to  a 
man  who  was  busily  engaged  in  arranging  the 
show-windows  picturesquely  and  attractively. 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  I,  "  but  that  man's  face 
is  familiar,  and  yet  I  can't  quite  recall  him. 
Who  is  he  ?  " 

"  I  don't  wonder  that  you  can't  place 
him,"  said  Royce.  "  He  looks  fifteen  years 
older  than  he  did  five  years  ago.  His  name 
is  Palfrey;  you  probably  saw  him,  formerly, 
in  his  own  store,  down  near  the  market." 

That  brought  the  whole  matter  clearly  be- 
fore me.  "  Oh,  I  remember.  He  kept  that  dry 
goods  store,  with  the  pretty  show-window." 
Then  I  saw,  without  need  of  explanation, 
the  meaning  of  the  man's  altered  circum- 
stances. "  It's  the  oft-repeated  story,  I  sup- 
pose, of  the  department  store  swallowing  the 
smaller  stores." 

"  Exactly  !  "  rejoined  my  friend.  "  He 
ought  not  to  have  enlarged  his  business, 
and  tried  to  compete  with  this  immense 
department  concern.     They  are  a  part  of  a 


A    LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  25 

syndicate,  you  know,  and  they  can  buy  vast 
quantities  of  goods,  and  can  distribute  them 
through  their  various  branches,  and  under- 
sell and  kill  out  any  smaller  competing 
concern.  That  is  what  they  have  done  for 
Palfrey  and  his  employes ;  all  swallowed  up. 
And  there  is  Clary  &  Co.,  and  that  paper- 
hanging  store,  Holloway's !  Both  of  them, 
and  many  others,  closed  up,  and  employers 
and  employes  taken  in  on  salaries,  to  work 
at  the  same  business,  under  Preston's  roof." 

"I  have  seen  some  of  the  results  of  that 
department  store  system,"  I  remarked,  sadly. 
"  I  have  seen  the  changes  that  have  come  to 
several  families  through  that  absorption  of 
the  small  stores.  In  one  case  the  curtailing 
of  expenses  kept  a  promising  young  lad  away 
from  college ;  and  in  another  case,  the  break- 
ing up  of  a  household  lost  a  good  coachman 
his  job,  and  the  family  have  steadily  fallen 
ever  since.  One  of  the  girls  has  taken  a 
place  in  a  family  as  second  girl,  but  the  father 
cannot  find  work  for  which  he  is  fitted,  and 
he  has  drunk  himself  almost  to  death." 


26  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

"  Well,"  exclaimed  Royce,  tossing  back  his 
head,  and  squaring  his  shoulders,  "there's 
nothing  to  be  done  about  it.  It's  simply  a 
question  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  The 
strong  survive ;  the  men  of  power,  and  reso- 
lute will.  I  fancy  I'm  a  bit  of  that  sort  my- 
self. But  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  and  the 
Crusades  called  for  no  more  pluck  and  endur- 
ance and  strategy  than  does  the  commercial 
and  mercantile  war  of  the  present  day." 

I  made  no  reply,  at  the  moment.  I  was 
recalling  the  white  hair  and  expressionless 
face  of  the  man  whom  I  had  seen  in  the 
show-window  of  Preston's.  I  observed  how 
aged  the  man  had  grown  since  I  saw  him  in 
his  own  store,  then  apparently  hopeful,  happy. 
And  this  was  only  one  case  out  of  many  now 
happening  in  all  the  cities  and  large  towns  of 
the  country. 

"  You  say  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  about 
it,"  I  began.  "  Do  you  mean  to  say  that 
tyranny  and  cruelty  are  necessary  elements 
in  our  boasted  nineteenth  century  civilisa- 
tion?" 


A   LESSON    FROM    A   PIE.  27 

Royce  emitted  a  prolonged  whistle.  Most 
people,  seeing  and  hearing  him  at  that  mo- 
ment, would  have  set  him  down  as  a  hard, 
cold,  cynical  man ;  but  I  knew  that  the  whis- 
tle was  a  signal  to  himself  to  put  the  brakes 
on,  a  signal  to  his  will  to  restrain  his  emo- 
tions of  sympathy  and  anger.  I  knew  that 
all  his  trained  power  of  self-control  were  often 
needed  to  preserve  that  cynical  expression  of 
face,  and  to  keep  down  the  violent  emotions 
of  justice  and  pity  in  his  volcanic  heart.  But 
he  did  it,  nearly  always;  and  most  people 
called  him  cold  and  heartless ;  and  he  —  well, 
he  smiled  the  same  old  cynical  smile. 

"  Yes,  I  repeat/'  said  he,  "  there  is  nothing 
you  can  do  about  it.  I  don't  say  that  the 
situation  is  good,  bad,  or  indifferent ;  I  say, 
only,  that  I  see  no  way  to  help  it.  Herbert 
Spencer  has  shown  —  " 

"  There,  there  !  "  I  protested,  laughingly, 
"  I  knew  you  would  quote  him.  But  I  don't 
care  what  he  thinks ;  what  I  ask  is,  —  what 
you  think." 

"  Well,  pastor,"  said  Royce,  with  mock  re- 


28  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

spect  and  reverence  in  his  tones,  "  I  beg  to 
say  that  I  think  as  Spencer  thinks.  That's 
all.  You  knew  that  before ;  yes,  and  you 
know  Spencer's  social  theories  as  well  as  I 
do." 

"  Not  quite  as  well,"  I  said.  "  I  have  read 
him  less  carefully  than  you  have.  But,  leav- 
ing that,  what  do  you  say  to  a  little  whole- 
some legislation  upon  these  matters  ?  I  don't 
urge  this  myself,  but  my  friend,  Doctor  Bar- 
ton, —  you  know  him,  —  says  that  we  ought 
to  draft  a  few  bills,  and  lay  them  before  the 
Legislature,  and  compel  some  sort  of  fair  play 
between  these  big  department  stores  and  the 
smaller  dealers." 

"  H'm !  "  ejaculated  Royce,  contemptuously. 
"  As  you  know,  I  gave  a  good  deal  of  time  to 
reading  law,  a  few  years  ago.  Well,  you 
take  my  word  for  it !  There  is  no  way  of 
framing  a  law  that  will  remedy  this  supposed 
evil  of  the  department  store.  Moreover,  I 
don't  believe  in  so  much  special  legislation ; 
it  is  petty,  and  confusing,  and  ineffective." 

"Spencer  again?"  I  asked,  with  a  laugh. 


A    LESSON    FROM   A    PIE.  29 

And  then  I  added,  fearing  that  I  might  have 
irritated  him,  "I  agree  pretty  closely  with 
you,  as  you  well  know.  I  am  only  trying  to 
draw  out  some  sort  of  argument  on  the 
opposite  side.  In  fact,  if  you  had  been  at 
church,  Sunday  before  last,  —  perhaps  you 
were ;  don't  protest !  I  always  assume  that 
you  are  not,  unless  you  say  you  are —  " 

"  Oh,  I  see  !  You  are  not  so  generous  in 
your  construction  of  human  conduct  as  is 
the  law ;  you  believe  a  man  guilty  until 
he  proves  himself  innocent." 

"  Not  so,"  I  replied,  keeping  up  the  chaff- 
ing. "I  accept  it  as  proved  that  you  were 
there,  since  you  say  you  were.  And,  of 
course,  you  heard  what  I  said  about  '  com- 
petition.' " 

My  friend  nodded,  now  growing  serious 
again.  "  Yes ;  and  if  I  recall  your  main 
idea,  it  was  that  competition  is  closely  allied 
to  the  most  fundamental  instinct  in  human 
nature,  namely,  the  instinct  of  self-pres- 
ervation." 

"  That  was  my  point.     I  hold  that  com- 


30  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

petition  rests  on  an  ineradicable  instinct  of 
the  human  race ;  to  uproot  it,  would  be  to 
uproot  the  race.  In  commercial  competition 
there  are  at  least  two  elements  :  one  is  the 
same  element  that  is  present  in  all  sports  and 
games,  the  element  of  emulation,  and  asser- 
tion of  superior  strength  or  skill ;  but  that 
is  the  less  important  element.  The  stronger, 
more  persistent,  more  impregnable  element 
is  the  eager  desire  to  progress,  to  advance, 
to  do  more  and  better  to-day  than  yesterday, 
and  more  and  better  to-morrow  than  to-day. 
That  is  what  has  brought  the  race  up  from 
mud  huts,  and  canoes,  and  dripping  raw 
flesh,  to  palaces,  and  railroads,  and  all  the 
arts  of  civilised  life." 

"  Very  good  !  "  said  Royce,  with  a  laugh ; 
"  I  don't  need  to  quote  Herbert  Spencer  to 
you.  You  are  getting  on  very  well  yourself. 
You  are  stating  my  side  as  well  as  I  could. 
Now  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ? 
All  this  assertion  of  individual  power  brings 
suffering  and  distress  to  the  unsuccessful,  to 
the  weaker  ones,  at  every  step  of  advance. 


A    LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  31 

Let  the  principle  of  competition,  or  self- 
assertion,  have  the  clearest  possible  field,  as 
it  must !  Then  what  about  these  sad  cases 
which  confront  you,  so  often,  in  your  paro- 
chial rounds  ?  " 

I  was  silent.  I  knew  very  well  that  I 
had  no  remedy  to  offer.  I  could  palliate 
a  few  of  the  maladies,  as  the  physicians  say, 
by  doles  of  money,  or  by  helping  men,  out 
of  work,  to  find  new  positions ;  but,  for  the 
malady  itself,  apparently  increasing  yearly, 
in  our  great  cities,  I  saw  no  cure. 

I  said  something  to  this  effect,  and  my 
companion  added :  "  I  have  given  money, 
with  some  readiness,  to  support  '  homes  for 
orphans,'  and  '  widows'  societies,'  and  '  relief 
bureaus ; '  but  they  sometimes  seem  to  me 
sadly  ineffective  ;  they  do  not  meet  the  real 
problem.  They  increase  in  number,  but  the 
destitution  itself  seems  to  increase  in  a 
greater  ratio.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  am  grow- 
ing rather  tired  of  throwing  my  money 
away.  I  would  put  money,  yes,  and  effort, 
into    some   radical    curative    measure,    if    I 


32  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

could  see  such  a  field  of  reform ;  but  I  don't 
see  it." 

Presently  we  separated,  with  a  warm 
grasp  of  the  hand ;  for  we  understood  each 
other,  Royce  and  I;  and  the  clear-headed, 
warm-hearted,  self -controlled  man  was  always 
a  tonic  and  a  help  to  me.  He  sauntered 
off  to  his  club,  and  I  bought  a  newspaper, 
and  returned  to  my  home. 

As  I  glanced  through  the  columns  of  the 
paper,  after  tea,  my  eye  caught  the  large 
headline,  "  Strike  on  the  New  Railroad ! " 
and  as  I  glanced  through  the  paragraph,  I 
learned  that  the  labourers  had  struck,  in  a 
body,  three  hundred  of  them,  and  the  work 
was  at  a  standstill.  Then,  lower  down  was 
a  second  item.  An  agent  in  Montreal  had 
been  telegraphed,  and  would  send  two  hun- 
dred French  Canadians  to-morrow.  Also  a 
gang  of  one  hundred  Italian  labourers  would 
be   available,   the   day   following,  when   the 

S and    F steamship   arrived    from 

Liverpool. 

The  old  story.     I  knew  what   the  result 


A   LESSON    FROM    A   PIE.  33 

would  be.  The  reduced  wages,  against 
which  the  men  had  struck,  would  be  kept 
down,  the  work  would  go  on,  after  a  day 
or  two  of  delay,  a  large  number  of  foreign 
labourers  would  be  settled  in  the  city,  a  few 
of  the  old  workers  would  be  taken  back, 
and  one  or  two  hundred  native  labourers 
would  be  out  of  work.  What  would  become 
of  their  families?  Alas,  the  charity  work- 
ers, and  the  clergymen,  and  the  overseers 
of  the  poor  would  have  to  meet  the  demand, 
somehow.  And,  do  the  best  that  all  these 
relief  agencies  could,  that  strike  meant  the 
permanent  sinking  down,  into  lower  levels 
of  life,  of  a  large  number  of  human  be- 
ings. Surely,  the  city  problem  of  poverty 
and  crime  grew  no  simpler. 

As  I  scanned  further  the  pages  of  my 
newspaper,  I  read  the  following  impassioned 
appeal,  made  by  a  Salvation  Army  speaker. 
As  I  re-read  it  now,  I  see  that  there  are  one  or 
two  suggestive  thoughts  in  it,  which  might 
have  led,  then  and  there,  if  my  mind  had  been 
ready  for  it,  to  the  plan  of  our  farm-colony, 


34  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

which  we  later  developed.  I  will  give  a  part 
of  this  appeal.  "  Three  millions  of  poor  peo- 
ple are  rotting  in  the  slums  of  our  great 
cities.  They  constitute  our  '  Israel  in  Egypt.' 
They  are  our  fellow  citizens,  brothers  and 
daughters  of  our  common  humanity.  They 
cry  to  us  for  bread,  and  we  give  them  a  stone ; 
they  ask  for  fish,  and  we  offer  a  scorpion. 
The  best  that  we  offer  them  is  the  rending 
of  the  tender  ties  of  kindred,  the  branding 
with  the  stigma  of  pauperdom,  the  casting 
them  into  the  Nile  of  indigence  and  degenera- 
tion ;  or  we  place  them  under  cruel  taskmas- 
ters, to  build  our  great  treasure-cities,  thus 
killing  them  off,  and  reducing  by  unnatural 
death  our  pressing  evil." 

"  But  their  numbers  increase  with  a  rapidity 
that  threatens  to  make  the  disease  of  pauper- 
dom as  chronic  and  severe  in  our  land  as  in 
the  oldest  civilisation  of  the  Eastern  Hemi- 
sphere." 

"  It  is  time,  therefore,  that  we  called  a  halt 
to  our  present  methods,  examined  their  utility, 
and  asked  ourselves  as  a  nation  the  question, 


A   LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  35 

'Is  there  no  way  out  for  these  suffering 
masses  ?  no  Canaan  which  they  may  colonise  ? 
no  Moses,  who,  under  God,  may  afford  them 
deliverance  from  a  condition  so  painful,  that, 
unless  deliverance  be  forthcoming,  and  that 
speedily,  anarchy  and  bloodshed  must  await 
us  in  the  not  distant  future  ? ' " 

A  day  or  two  afterward,  as  I  was  starting 
out  on  my  round  of  parish  calls,  the  door-bell 
rang.  I  was  in  the  hall,  putting  on  my  coat, 
and  I  answered  the  bell  myself.  A  young 
woman  stood  on  the  doorstep,  and  she  seemed 
a  little  surprised  to  meet  me  at  the  door.  She 
came  in,  on  my  invitation.  She  was  about 
twenty-five  years  old,  but  seemed  much  worn 
and  faded.  After  hesitating  a  moment,  she 
asked  if  I  were  the  minister. 

I  said  that  I  was,  and  then  waited. 

"I  —  I  rather  wanted  —  well,  are  you  — 
please  sir,  are  you  married  ? " 

That  was  a  somewhat  peculiar  inquiry ;  but 
I  have  had  many  peculiar  experiences  in  my 
varied  professional  life,  and  I  have  learned  to 
take  everything  as  it  comes,  and  I  am  not 


36  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

so  easily  confused  as  I  was  once.  "  Yes,  I  am 
married.     Why  do  you  ask  ?  " 

Then,  as  I  watched  her  face,  I  saw  signs 
that  made  me  add,  "  Would  you  like  to  see 
my  wife  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes  !  That  is  what  I  want,"  she 
exclaimed,  trying  to  arrange  some  bits  of 
faded  finery  about  her  ill-dressed  figure. 

So  I  called  Bridget,  and  she  took  charge  of 
the  poor  forlorn  creature,  not  without  evident 
distrust ;  for  Bridget  was  a  trifle  exclusive  in 
her  judgments  and  tastes. 

That  evening,  at  tea,  my  wife  gave  me  an 
account  of  the  young  woman's  visit.  It  seems 
that,  a  year  before,  she  had  come  in  from  the 
country,  with  a  small  hoard  of  money,  enough 
to  keep  her  for  a  week.  She  expected  to  find 
work  in  some  store,  without  much  delay ;  but 
situations  were  scarce,  she  had  no  trade,  and 
all  the  employment  that  she  could  obtain  was 
a  position  as  saleswoman,  in  a  department 
store.  The  wages  were  pitifully  small,  —  five 
dollars  a  week.  Many  of  the  other  girls  in 
the  store  lived  at  home,  or  with  relatives,  and 


A   LESSON   FROM   A   PIE.  37 

thus  could  afford  to  work  for  this  small 
amount.  She  tried  hard  to  keep  within  her 
means,  and  lived  in  a  bare  room,  on  a  back 
street,  and  provided  her  own  plain  food. 
Thus  she  struggled  on,'  week  after  week. 
Then  she  fell  sick,  and  stayed  out  of  the  store 
for  a  few  days.  When  she  went  back,  she 
was  told  at  the  desk  that  her  place  had  been 
given  to  another.  As  she  turned  away,  hope- 
less, one  of  the  men  in  the  store,  the  head  of 
one  of  the  departments,  asked  her  to  wait  a 
moment;  and,  after  a  brief  talk  with  the 
manager,  in  the  office,  he  told  her  that  he 
had  secured  a  place  for  her  in  his  department. 
She  was  deeply  grateful  to  him,  and  thanked 
him;  but  she  somehow  wished  it  had  been 
somebody  else  who  had  done  her  this  kind- 
ness. 

Afterward  this  man  was  very  considerate 
to  her,  though  too  familiar.  But  what  could 
she  do  ?  She  tried  to  think  that  he  was  act- 
ing out  of  kindness  of  heart;  and  the  other 
girls  did  not  seem  to  mind  the  men's  liberties 
with  them.     Soon  he  made  her  a  present  or 


38  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

two,  and  she  foolishly  accepted  them.  After 
that  came  a  visit  to  the  theatre,  and  to  a 
dancing  party,  several  girls  from  the  store 
and  several  young  men  being  of  the  party. 

After  that,  the  man's  evil  designs  ran  the 
usual  course.  A  supper,  following  one  of 
the  theatre  parties,  and  wine ;  and,  after  that, 
—  degradation  and  ruin. 

It  was  not  the  first  case  of  the  kind  I  had 
known,  but  it  seemed  sad,  horrible.  "  Why 
did  she  come  here  ? "  I  asked. 

"  She  has  just  been  discharged  from  the 
Maternity  Asylum,"  said  my  wife.  "She 
seems  to  me  to  be  in  just  the  state  of  mind 
to  appreciate  help." 

"  And  the  child  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Dead.     It  lived  only  a  few  hours." 

I  sat  awhile,  buried  in  thought.  I  knew 
that  my  good  wife  had  done  and  would  do 
whatever  could  be  done  for  the  poor  creature 
who  had  appealed  to  her.  I  was  thinking, 
rather,  of  the  economic  conditions  which  had 
led  to  this  girl's  ruin ;  of  course  she  had  a 
measure    of    personal   responsibility,   herself, 


A   LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  39 

and  was  so  far  culpable ;  but  how  overpower- 
ing the  temptations  had  been  around  her ! 

"  Has  she  any  near  relatives  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Yes,  a  mother,  and  two  sisters,  younger 
than  herself.  She  has  not  written  to  them 
for  several  months." 

After  a  silence,  I  again  added,  "  Did  she 
say  why  she  came  here,  to  our  house,  rather 
than  to  some  other  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  she  heard  you  preach,  a  few  even- 
ings, last  autumn,  and  she  had  no  regular 
church  connections.  I  shall  see  her  again, 
to-morrow,  and  shall  try  to  have  her  taken 
into  a  family  just  out  of  town." 

Thus  the  burden  of  the  city  problem 
weighed  upon  me  more  and  more  heavily. 

Almost  a  fortnight  after  this,  I  invited  un- 
friend Royce  to  tea.  We  have  tea  at  our 
house,  and  not  a  late  dinner ;  my  wife  gave 
up  the  custom  of  the  late  dinner  with  a  sigh. 
but  we  have  so  many  and  such  varieties  of 
people  come  in  to  sit  down  with  us  at  table, 
that  we  found  the  tea  less  pretentious  and 
more  practicable. 


40  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

Royce's  wife  was  away  on  a  visit,  and  I 
gave  him  his  choice  of  several  dates.  On  the 
evening  which  he  chose,  it  happened  that 
Doctor  Barton  also  came  in.  He,  poor  fellow, 
is  a  bachelor,  and  has  carte  blanche  to  come 
and  go,  in  our  home,  about  as  he  chooses. 
He  and  Royce  had  met,  occasionally,  at  the 
club,  and  on  one  or  two  committees,  but  had 
not  really  come  to  understand  each  other. 
How  they  would  get  on  together,  I  did  not 
know.  I  was  a  little  afraid  lest  Royce's  pres- 
ence might  repress  the  doctor's  effervescence, 
or  that  Royce  might  not  quite  understand  and 
enjoy  the  doctor,  in  case  he  gave  himself  his 
usual  freedom  of  expression.  However,  it 
all  turned  out  well.  Royce  liked  Doctor 
Barton,  from  the  first.  He  was  rather  taci- 
turn himself,  and  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in 
the  doctor's  confidential,  demonstrative  ways 
of  approaching  him. 

Of  course  the  conversation,  after  drifting 
about  over  various  subjects,  was  sure  to  reach 
some  economic  or  sociological  theme,  and 
there   to   stay.     We   were   all   interested   in 


A   LESSON    FKOM   A    PIE.  41 

such  matters.  One  incident  after  another 
was  referred  to,  in  a  rather  hopeless  way ; 
for  each  of  us  felt  how  difficult  the  problems 
of  modern  society  were.  I  remember  the 
conversation,  from  this  point  on,  with  some 
distinctness,  because  it  led  to  such  important 
results,  and  was  often  referred  to,  by  my  wife 
and  me,  afterward. 

We  were  about  half  through  tea,  and  some 
remark  of  Royce's  led  Doctor  Barton  to  ex- 
claim, "  Well,  the  upshot  of  the  matter  is, 
that  there  isn't  room  enough  in  the  cities. 
This  city  of  ours  is  crowded  to  death,  both  in 
respect  to  tenements  and  shops ;  all  through 
the  lower  end  of  our  city  three  people  are 
trying  to  live  where  there  is  room  for  only 
one,  or,  perhaps,  two." 

"  Yes,  that  is  about  the  whole  story,"  said 
Royce,  "  and  no  legislation  can  remedy  it ; 
unless,"  he  added,  with  one  of  his  much-mis- 
understood cynical  smiles,  "  we  pass  the  kind 
of  law  which  Dean  Swift  suggested  for  Ire- 
land, whereby  poor  parents  could  kill  and 
eat  their  children." 


42  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

"  Only  think,"  remarked  my  wife,  after  a 
pause,  "  what  a  vast  amount  of  room  there 
is  in  the  country  regions,  around  the  cities ! 
Why  can't  these  crowded,  sick,  hungry  people 
be  allowed  to  live  in  the  country  ?  " 

"  Oh,  that's  been  tried,"  exclaimed  Doctor 
Barton.  "  These  crowded-out  people  in  the 
cities  have  not  only  been  allowed  to  go  into 
the  country,  but,  in  many  cases,  they  have 
been  helped  to  go  out  and  settle  upon  farms. 
New  England  is  full  of  abandoned  farms, 
and,  at  various  times,  families  from  the  cities 
have  been  taken  out  and  started  in  farm  life ; 
but  the  scheme  doesn't  work." 

"  That  is  quite  true,"  I  added.  "  I  have 
known  about  several  cases,  and  the  people 
all  gave  it  up  in  a  short  time." 

"  Exactly  why  did  they  give  it  up  ?  "  asked 
Royce.  "  I  know  that  such  attempts  have 
generally  failed,  but  I  never  happened  to  be 
in  close  enough  touch  with  such  a  scheme, 
to  get  at  the  real  working  of  it.  The  trouble 
cannot  be  wholly  with  the  land  and  its  power 
of  production ;    fifty  years  ago,   and    during 


A   LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  43 

many  generations  back  of  that  time,  men 
farmed  successfully,  and  brought  up  credit- 
able families,  and  saved  a  little  something 
for  a  rainy  day." 

I  helped  Doctor  Barton  to  a  piece  of  cold 
meat,  passed  the  toast  to  my  wife,  and 
replied  to  Colonel  Royce :  "  No,  the  difficulty 
isn't  with  the  land ;  the  soil  does  not  change 
its  character ;  it  is  practically  about  as  strong, 
or  even  stronger  now,  than  when  my  grand- 
father supported  his  large  family  of  nine 
from  it ;  the  trouble  is  with  the  people  them- 
selves. It  is  hard  to  teach  them  how  to 
farm,  though  that  can  usually  be  done,  with 
patience.  But  they  are  restless,  and  long  for 
the  excitement  of  the  city  again.  That  is 
the  root  of  the  trouble.  They  hate  the  soli- 
tude ;  they  always  say  they  are '  lonesome,' 
and,  before  long,  you  find  them  creeping 
back  to  their  old  haunts,  in  city  rookeries, 
and  sharing  dry  bread  and  beer,  and  the 
pickings  of  garbage  cans." 

"  So  that  is  the  trouble,  is  it  ? "  said 
Colonel    Royce.     "  I   have  heard   that  state- 


44  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

merit  made,  before,  but  I  was  not  sure  of 
its  correctness.  I  have  heard,  too,  that  the 
wholesale  farming  in  the  West  has  cut  out 
the  smaller  farming  of  the  East.  Those 
Western  farmers,  I  am  told,  by  raising  their 
wheat  and  other  products  on  such  a  large 
scale,  have  been  able  to  undersell  Eastern 
farmers,  and  thus  push  them  out  of  the 
field  of   competition.     How  is  that?" 

Doctor  Barton  here  took  up  the  subject. 
"  I  have  driven  out  through  the  rural  districts 
a  great  many  times,"  he  said,  "  and  looked 
into  the  matter  a  little,  and  my  opinion  is 
that  the  small  farmers  of  the  Eastern  States 
could  compete  successfully  with  the  extensive 
farms  of  the  West,  if  they  would  put  more 
brains,  and  system,  and  hard  work  into  it." 

The  doctor  spoke  defiantly,  as  usual ;  but 
we  were  not  to  be  held  responsible  for  the 
lack  which  he  had  pointed  out.  We  remained 
silent ;  and  he  continued :  "  It  is  a  very  diffi- 
cult thing  to  hire  competent  labour  on  the 
farm.  Even  when  the  cities  are  crowded, 
and  men  work  for  starvation  wages,  and  are 


A   LESSON    EKOM    A   PIE.  45 

glad  enough  to  accept  them,  the  farmers  are 
looking  in  vain,  up  and  down  the  road,  for 
possible  workers.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
men  who  '  hire  out,'  to-day,  on  these  farms, 
are  foreigners.  A  few  years  ago  they  were 
chiefly  French  Canadians ;  but  those  fellows 
seemed  to  have  a  rather  handy  way  with 
tools,  and  they  have  slipped  quietly  into  the 
trades,  carpenters  mainly,  in  the  cities.  So 
that  Italians  have  come  in,  and  Poles,  and 
Hungarians,  and  a  few  Syrians ;  they  learn 
our  language  slowly,  and  are  too  ready  to 
resent  fancied  injustice  with  a  knife  or  club. 
There  have  been  some  very  bad  happenings 
on  farms,  especially  isolated  farms,  during 
the  past  five  years.  The  result  is,"  con- 
tinued the  doctor,  "  that  the  farms  are  poorly 
carried  on ;  they  are  not  half  developed." 

I  quite  agreed  with  that.  "  There  is  a 
shiftless  quality  about  a  great  deal  of  this 
Eastern  farming,"  I  said,  "which  you  don't 
see  on  those  big  Western  farms."  Then  I 
added,  as  nobody  else  spoke,  "  However, 
that    doesn't    bear    very    closely   upon    the 


46  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

problem  of  transplanting  poor  city  families 
to  the  country ;  they  vote  it  '  slow '  and 
'  dull/  and  go  back  and  starve  in  the  city." 

"  Or  live  off  some  charitable  society  or 
church,"  added  Colonel  Royce,  grimly. 

At  this  point,  my  wife  passed  the  pre- 
serves to  our  guests,  and  remarked,  casually : 
"  It  really  is  a  little  strange  that  these  people 
from  the  slums  and  rookeries  are  so  averse 
to  country  life.  It  seems  to  me  to  have 
many  attractions ;  and  I  have  observed  that 
many  of  our  friends,  who  have  country- 
houses,  stay  out  in  the  country,  or  at  the 
seashore,  longer  and  longer  each  year.  Why, 
there  are  the  Ranletts !  They  didn't  come 
back  to  town  until  November,  and  they 
went  away,  I  think,  as  early  as  April." 

Nobody  added  any  suggestion  to  this 
remark.  Very  likely  each  was  recalling 
instances  of  the  same  sort.  For  my  own 
part,  I  was  engaged  in  carefully  cutting  a 
large  mince  pie,  which  was  to  serve  as  a 
sort  of  dessert  to  our  rather  nondescript 
bill  of  fare. 


A    LESSON    FROM    A   PIE.  4  rf 

Presently  Doctor  Barton  spoke.  "  You  are 
quite  right  about  that,  Mrs.  Wentworth.  I 
have  noticed  a  growing  change  in  this 
matter  during  the  past  five  years.  I  notice 
it  because  of  the  visits  I  now  am  compelled 
to  make  to  families  at  their  country  homes, 
whereas,  formerly,  a  large  number  of  my 
visits  were  made  when  the  families  were 
within  the  city.  Still,  this  growing  tendency 
toward  country  life,  on  the  part  of  the 
wealthier  part  of  our  people,  does  not  con- 
flict with  the  feverish  desire  for  city  life 
which  is  shown  by  transplanted  families 
who  attempt  country  life.  Because  most  of 
the  wealthier  class,  who  have  country-seats, 
carry  with  them  and  gather  about  them 
quite  a  considerable  group  of  friends  and 
dependents,  so  that  they  experience  none 
of  that  loneliness,  which  seems  to  be  an  in- 
separable part  of  the  regular  farmer's  life." 

"  But  why  don't  the  farmers  get  together  ?  " 
broke  in  my  wife.  "  If  loneliness,  isolation, 
is  the  great  bane  of  country  life,  why  don't 
they  meet  oftener,  and  have  clubs,  and  hold 


48  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

teas  ?  Then  they  could  be  company  for  one 
another." 

Doctor  Barton  smiled  indulgently,  and 
replied,  "  If  you  will  recall  the  way  in  which 
the  farms  are  arranged,  in  any  country  town, 
you  will  see  that  not  much  social  life  is 
possible.  Each  farmhouse  is  set  down  in  the 
midst  of  a  lot  of  land,  containing  fifty  or  a 
hundred  acres ;  and,  to  reach  a  neighbour's 
house,  a  farmer's  family  must  travel  at  least 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  usually  much  farther 
than  that." 

Doctor  Barton  seemed  to  be  thinking  of 
something  else,  while  he  was  saying  this,  and, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  he  began  again. 
"  When  our  farmers  settled  their  farms,  they 
evidently  had  no  suspicion  of  the  funda- 
mental demand  of  human  nature  for  social 
life.  Each  man  put  his  farm  squarely  down 
in  the  middle  of  his  land,  getting  as  near  a 
highway  as  he  could.  But  human  beings  evi- 
dently need  something  besides  land ;  and  the 
young  people  grow  up  and  start  for  the  cities, 
leaving  the  farms,  depopulating  the  country 


A   LESSON   FEOM   A   PIE.  49 

districts,  and  thereby  deepening  the  loneliness 
of  those  who  remain.  Now,  if  those  farm- 
houses were  only  nearer  together  —  " 

All  this  time  I  was  engaged  in  cutting  the 
pie,  with  careful  exactitude,  into  eight  pieces. 
While  I  was  busy  with  the  manual  part  of 
this  operation,  my  mind  was  running  upon 
the  problem  of  rural  isolation ;  and  I  said, 
"  If  the  farmhouses  could  be  moved,  or  if 
new  ones  were  being  built,  then  this  greatest 
bane  of  country  life  —  for  such  I  believe  it 
to  be  —  could  be  met,  at  least  in  a  measure ; 
for  the  houses  could  be  put  at  adjacent 
corners  of  the  farm  lots,  and  thus  would 
stand  in  groups." 

What  I  had  in  mind  was  merely  a  group 
of  four  houses,  but  Doctor  Barton's  quick 
perceptions  outrun  my  own,  and  he  suddenly 
burst  out,  "  Why,  my  dear  man,  you  are  solv- 
ing that  problem  better  with  your  hands  than 
with  your  head."  And  he  pointed  to  the  pie, 
now  cut  up  into  its  eight  even  portions. 

"  You  certainly  are,"  he  continued, 
warmly.     "  Just    let    me    show    you !     Call 


50  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

that  area  of  pie  a  land-area  of  two  or  three 
miles  !  You  have  divided  it  into  eight  equal 
parts,  practically,  ignoring  the  curved  ends, 
eight  isosceles  triangles,  if  my  Euclid  has 
not  wholly  deserted  me ;  now,  suppose  you 
call  those  eight  pieces  eight  farms,  and  you 
place  a  farmhouse  on  each,  at  the  apex. 
There  you  have  eight  families,  close  together, 
each  with  its  own  land  reaching  back  and 
away,  a  half-mile,  if  you  like." 

We  all  sat  in  silence,  looking  reflectively  at 
the  pie.  Then  an  idea  struck  Colonel  Royce. 
"  You  have  cut  the  pie,"  said  he,  "  into  only 
eight  parts.  If  you  had  so  wished,  you  could 
have  cut  it  into  twelve  parts,  or  even  more 
than  that.  Then  you  would  have  made 
places  for  twelve  or  more  farmhouses  and 
families  all  grouped  together,  and  thus  there 
would  be  still  greater  social  gain." 

We  were  approximating,  step  by  step,  to 
the  plan  which  afterward  matured  so  happily. 
Already  the  project  of  a  colony  was  taking 
shape  in  at  least  two  of  our  minds.  Doctor 
Barton  and   I  both    saw  that,   if  the  funda- 


A   LESSON    FROM   A    PIE.  51 

mental  obstacle  to  farm  life  lay  in  its  social 
isolation,  this  obstacle  could  be  overcome 
by  such  a  division  and  allotment  of  land  as 
we  were  working  out.  Then  the  next  step 
was  inevitable  ;  why  not  plant  a  colony  of 
unsuccessful,  destitute  people,  from  the  city 
slums,  on  such  a  group  of  farms  ? 

Doctor  Barton  gave  expression  to  this  idea. 
"  I  believe  it  could  be  done,"  he  exclaimed. 
"  I  believe  that  a  tract  of  land,  a  mile  or  two 
square,  could  be  cut  up  in  this  way,  into  one 
or  two  hundred  triangular  lots,  with  the 
sharp  ends  at  the  centre,  each  having  its 
farmhouse  and  outbuildings,  close  up  to  the 
centre ;  and  thus  a  group  would  be  formed, 
which  would  be  large  enough  to  furnish  all 
the  social  life  that  could  be  desired.  I  would 
have  those  lots  come  not  quite  to  a  centre, 
but  they  should  converge  on  a  plot  of  land, 
circular  in  shape,  whereon  could  be  located 
a  schoolhouse,  a  church,  public  hall,  and  other 
needful  buildings." 

By  this  time,  Margaret,  my  wife,  recalled 
us  to  the  immediate  demands  of   the   hour, 


52  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

and,  with  laughter,  and  much  joking,  we  fell 
upon  the  pie,  and  soon  demolished  the  larger 
part  of  it. 

Then  we  adjourned  to  my  study,  and  con- 
tinued our  conversation. 

"If  you  recollect,"  said  Colonel  Royce, 
seating  himself  in  a  large  armchair,  "  certain 
of  the  New  England  villages  were  arranged 
on  a  plan  somewhat  like  this  of  yours.  South 
Hadley  was  one,  and  Longmeadow,  if  I  re- 
member correctly,  was  another.  They  were 
arranged  so  that  the  farmhouses  stood  closely 
side  by  side,  and  fronted  or  abutted  on  one 
highway,  a  score  or  two  houses  on  each  side 
of  the  road." 

"  Yes,  I  recollect  perfectly,"  said  Doctor 
Barton.  "  I  have  visited  both  those  villages. 
And  that  method  of  grouping  was  not  only 
the  most  convenient  for  common  defence 
against  the  attacks  of  Indians,  but  it  pro- 
duced a  social  life  and  strength  which  en- 
dures even  to-day,  preserving  those  villages 
as  intelligent,  attractive  communities ;  while 
other  more   scattered  villages   around   them 


A    LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  53 

have  long  since  disintegrated  and  degen- 
erated." 

"  You  see,  colonel,"  said  I,  laughing,  "  the 
doctor  is  so  enthusiastic  that  he  can  almost 
do  what  the  alchemists  could  not  do, — 
turn  the  baser  metals  into  gold ;  the  facts 
which  you  adduce  to  combat  his  plan  of 
a  colony,  he  changes  at  once  into  testimony 
for  it." 

"  That's  fair  enough,"  replied  Eoyce ;  "  the 
doctor  might  not  have  made  a  good  judge, 
but  he  would  have  made  an  excellent  advo- 
cate, if  he  had  turned  that  way.  He  knows 
that  it  is  better  to  mould  and  direct  facts 
than  to  dispute  them.  However,  I  don't  care 
to  take  the  part  of  prosecuting  attorney 
against  this  scheme.  I  merely  wish  to  dis- 
cuss it  and  find  its  weak  spots.  Now,  I  don't 
see  that  there  is  anything  especially  new  in 
this  plan,  except  the  laying  out  of  the  farms. 
I  admit  that  such  a  grouping  of  families 
would  be  rather  novel.  But  whether  it  would 
be  of  enough  importance  to  save  the  colony 
from  the  fate  of  decay  and  failure  which  has 


54  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

overtaken  almost,  if  not  all,  other  colonisa- 
tion schemes,  —  there  is  the  question.  Now, 
doctor,  you  have  heard  of  Brook  Farm  ? 
And  —  " 

"  Pooh,  pooh  !  "  exclaimed  Doctor  Barton, 
running  his  hand  up  through  his  wiry  gray 
hair  until  his  head  looked  like  a  porcupine ; 
"I  can  name  as  long  a  list  as  you  can.  I 
have  heard  as  much  as  most  people  about  the 
Rappists,  and  the  Oneida  Community,  and 
Harmony,  and  Redands,  and  a  half-dozen 
others ;  but  I  give  those  foolish  attempts 
little  weight  as  evidence  in  such  a  plan  as  this 
which  we  are  now  discussing.  They  were  all, 
without  exception,  variations  of  some  theory 
of  Socialism  or  Communism.  And  I  would 
not.  have  this  farm  scheme  tried  under  any 
such  theory." 

"  No  more  would  I,"  I  ventured  to  add. 
"  Those  colonies  and  communities  failed  be- 
cause they  did  not  face  the  fact  that  human 
nature  is  selfish.  '  Man  is  as  lazy  as  circum- 
stances will  permit.'  I  heard  a  wise  old  man 
say  that  years    ago,   and  I  have  verified  it 


A   LESSON    FROM    A   PIE.  55 

often  since.  Yes,  human  nature  is  selfish, 
and,  more  than  that,  is  short-sighted,  not  far- 
sighted,  in  its  selfishness ;  so  that  a  lazy 
member  of  a  communistic  group  will  disregard 
the  remote  and  indirect  good,  even  though  it 
be  greater,  and  will  grasp  the  near  and  direct, 
though  often  smaller,  good." 

"  Well,  that's  natural,"  said  Colonel  Royce, 
smiling.  "  I  confess  I  couldn't  work  really 
hard,  to  earn  a  dollar,  if  only  one  cent  of  that 
dollar  were  coming  to  me,  and  ninety-nine 
other  cents  were  to  come  from  the  work  of 
ninety-nine  other  men.  The  work  would  be 
easier  for  me  if  I  knew  that  the  one  hundred 
cents  which  I  earned  were  coming  directly 
into  my  own  pocket.  In  other  words,  if  my 
earnings  must  go  into  a  common  fund,  and 
there  mingle  with  the  earnings  of  ninety-nine 
other  workmen,  and  then  one  dollar  be  ex- 
tracted from  that  fund,  to  come  back  to  me, 
—  well,  I  wouldn't  find  my  work  so  interest- 
ing, and  I  do  believe  I  would  let  up  a  little 
on  my  exertions,  hoping  that  the  other  fel- 
lows would  not  let  up  on  theirs,  and  that  my 


56  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

pay  would  come  out  of  the  common  fund  all 
right." 

I  could  not  repress  a  smile,  as  I  tried  to 
fancy  the  self-reliant,  energetic  colonel  re- 
stricted and  hampered  by  the  fetters  of  Social- 
ism. For  I  have  found  that  theory,  especially 
in  its  extreme  forms,  likely  to  make  easy  the 
condition  of  the  shiftless  and  indolent,  and  to 
paralyse  the  forces  of  the  strong  and  enthusi- 
astic. I  made  some  remark  to  this  effect ; 
and  Doctor  Barton  sharply  added,  "  They 
are  generally  sore-heads,  those  extreme  social- 
ists ;  envious,  lazy  people,  who  have  failed, 
or  won't  try  and  try  hard,  and  would  like  to 
get  hold  of  some  money  in  an  easy  way. 
Great  as  are  the  evils  of  our  present  system, 
they  are  as  nothing  to  the  chaos  and  socio- 
logical suicide,  which  is  involved  in  that 
shallow  scheme.  However,"  he  added,  with 
his  love  of  justice,  "  in  certain  respects,  we 
all  concede  something  to  the  general  social 
good.  We  modify  our  individualism,  and 
necessarily  so,  but  only  in  a  very  moderate 
degree ;  in  fact,  the  least  is  best,  I  think." 


A   LESSON   FKOM    A   PIE.  57 

Thus  an  hour  passed,  in  friendly  comment 
and  suggestive  criticism.  The  only  really  new 
point  raised  came  from  the  skeptical  colonel, 
who  said  flatly  that  he  didn't  believe  the  poor 
wretches  from  the  sweat-shops  and  slums 
could  be  induced  to  leave  them,  even  with 
the  most  roseate  picturings  of  a  country  life. 
"  They  are  infatuated  with  the  rush  and  roar 
of  a  great  metropolis,"  he  said.  "  They  have 
city  fever ;  it  is  in  their  blood.  An  unnatural 
hunger  and  thirst  for  excitement  burns  them 
up." 

"  Well,  I  have  seen  a  good  many  cases  of 
that  disease,"  replied  Doctor  Barton,  with  a 
touch  of  sadness  in  his  voice,  "  and  you  may 
be  correct  in  your  deductions,  but  I  doubt  it ; 
on  the  whole,  I  doubt  it.  Wisdom  and  pa- 
tience would  be  greatly  needed,  but  I  do 
believe  that  if  those  poor  half-starved  wretches 
were  approached  in  the  right  way,  they  could 
be  induced  to  try  the  experiment  of  country 
life." 

Then  the  doctor's  manner  grew  more  ani- 
mated, and  he  turned  and  addressed  Colonel 


58  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

Royce,  individually.  "  Of  course,  my  dear 
sir,  you  and  I  are  partly  strangers  to  each 
other,  but  we  know  each  other  by  reputation, 
and  somewhat  through  our  friend  here  (point- 
ing toward  me) ;  he  is  a  sort  of  social  clearing- 
house, I  find.  Now  this  scheme  appeals  to 
me  strongly,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will 
do.  I  will  put  ten  thousand  dollars  into  it,  if 
you  will  put  in  twenty  thousand,  and  get  some 
of  your  friends  to  do  the  same.  This  may 
seem  rather  hasty  on  my  part,  but  it  isn't 
wholly  so ;  I  have  thought  of  the  problem  of 
city  poverty  a  great  deal,  and  I  may  add  that 
I  have  felt  it  a  great  deal  also.  I  am  thrown 
into  the  midst  of  it  constantly.  And  I  have 
been  led  by  my  reflections,  part  way  toward 
the  concrete  solution  which  has  been  reached 
here  to-night.  I  had  gotten,  in  my  thinking, 
as  far  as  this :  I  saw  the  destitution  and  suf- 
fering in  fhe  cities,  and  that  it  resulted  from 
overcrowding,  and  excessive  competition.  I 
also  knew  that  the  country  districts  were 
sparsely  settled  ;  plenty  of  room  there.  More- 
over, I  have  been  led  to  believe,  from  the 


A    LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  59 

opinions  of  specialists,  that  a  good  living  was 
about  as  sure,  from  a  farm,  now,  as  ever  in 
the  past ;  and  my  ancestors,  for  several  gen- 
erations, got  a  fair  living  from  farms.  But  I 
was  aware,  sadly  aware  by  experience  of  two 
or  three  cases,  that  the  city  fascinated  its  vic- 
tims, as  the  serpent  is  said  to  do,  before  it 
devoured  them.  My  families,  which  I  placed 
on  farms,  slipped  back  into  the  cities,  to  suffer 
and  die,  preferring  it  to  the  loneliness  of  the 
country.  That  was  the  point  which  I  had 
reached,  and  there  I  stopped.  I  believed  that 
the  salvation  of  the  city  hordes  was  to  be 
found  in  rural  life.  The  wealthier  classes 
have  long  since  found  it  so;  only,  they  are 
able  to  regulate  their  affairs  so  as  to  sip 
the  best  of  city  life,  in  winter,  and  yet  gain 
the  good  of  the  best  months  of  the  year  in  the 
country." 

The  doctor  was  making  what  seemed  to  me 
an  excellent  speech,  and  Colonel  Royce's  quiz- 
zical look  had  changed  into  a  kindlier  smile. 
He  seemed  interested.  Doctor  Barton  sud- 
denly stopped,  paused   a  moment,  and  said 


60  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

more  quietly,  "  Well,  I'm  no  promoter.  Un- 
derstand that !  I  just  wish  to  say  that  this 
plan  of  a  circular  colony  seems  to  me  to  carry 
out,  reasonably,  the  line  of  thought  which  has 
occupied  my  mind  not  a  little  for  several  years 
past.  So  I  repeat  my  offer,  Colonel  Royce, 
of  that  sum  of  money  which  I  named.  I  am 
not  a  rich  man,  but  I  have  no  family,  and  I 
have  saved  my  pennies.  Now,  you  have  a 
wife,  and  greater  expenses  than  I ;  but  the 
world,  the  omniscient,  officious  world,  says  that 
you  are  a  very  rich  man,  and  I  know  you  give 
freely  to  good  causes.  I  think  we  both  feel, 
that  if  we  have  saved  and  earned  our  money, 
we  have  a  right  to  enjoy  spending  it,  rather 
than  leaving  it  to  somebody  else  to  spend. 
There !  I'm  through.  I  didn't  mean  to  say 
so  much."  And  the  doctor  backed  away 
toward  the  fireplace,  and  leaned  against  the 
mantel.  Colonel  Royce  stood  silent  for  a 
moment  or  two.  I  wondered  what  was  in  his 
mind.  I  was  a  little  anxious  about  him.  I 
must  confess  that  I  was  deeply  interested  in 
the  colonisation  scheme,  but  I  dared  not  say 


A   LESSOR    FROM   A    PIE.  61 

very  much  about  it  to  the  colonel.  He  was  a 
man  to  quickly  suspect  designs,  and  he  liked 
to  reach  his  own  conclusions,  without  being 
pushed.  So  I  picked  up  a  recently  published 
book,  on  "  Benevolence  and  Progress,"  and 
looked  for  an  article  which  I  wished  to  show 
to  Doctor  Barton. 

I  did  not  find  just  what  I  sought,  but  I 
came  across  a  paragraph  which  was  signifi- 
cant, and  I  read  it  aloud.  I  here  transcribe 
it: 

"If,  for  instance,  the  $50,000,000  now 
spent  annually  by  our  nation  on  merely 
affording  temporary  relief  to  this  municipal 
sore,  should  be  devoted  to  the  planting  of 
the  three  million  of  our  surplus  population 
upon  say  six  million  acres  of  fertile  soil, 
the  following  results,  among  others,  would 
be  obtained :  Their  labour  would  produce 
annually  from  the  land  at  least  $120,000,- 
000  worth  of  food  for  the  consumption  of 
their  families.  The  value  of  the  land  would 
increase  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent., 


62  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

thereby  affording  an  abundant  security  for 
the  investment  of  the  capital,  which  would 
be  repaid  within  a  period  of  ten  years 
with  interest.  The  tax  consumers  would  be 
converted  into  tax  producers,  and  an  enor- 
mously increased  demand  would  be  created 
for  the  produce  of  our  city  manufactures, 
while  the  dead  weight  of  city  taxes  would 
be  simultaneously  lightened  by  the  removal 
of  the  terrible  incubus  of  a  vast  pauper 
population." 

We  discussed  the  matter  a  little,  from 
this  point  of  view,  and,  although  we  did 
not  agree  in  all  respects,  we  saw  that  the 
trend  of  the  best  thought  on  these  problems 
of  municipal  crowding  was  in  one  direction. 

Presently  Colonel  Royce  put  out  his  hand 
to  my  wife,  to  say  good  night,  and  after- 
ward to  the  doctor  and  myself.  But  he 
did  it  in  a  rather  absent-minded  way,  and 
I  suspected  that  he  was  dwelling  upon  the 
plan  suggested,  and  perhaps  upon  Doctor 
Barton's  offer  also.     As  he  reached  the  door, 


A   LESSON    FROM    A    PIE.  63 

and  opened  it  to  go  out,  he  stopped,  and 
closed  it  again.  "  It  wouldn't  do  any  harm, 
Mr.  Wentworth,"  he  said,  addressing  me,  "  if 
you  were  to  write  out,  more  in  detail,  your 
ideas  of  that  colony.  What  say  you  to  put- 
ting down  on  paper  your  notions  of  the 
scheme  ?  And  I  will  try  and  find  an  evening 
next  week  to  come  in  and  talk  about  it  again. 
Good  night !     Good  night !  " 

With  that  he  went  out,  and  I  knew  that 
he  was  considerably  interested  in  the  affair, 
and  that  he  would  give  it  wise,  careful 
thought.  Doctor  Barton  felt  as  I  did,  and 
we  agreed  to  meet  early  in  the  following 
week ;  and  I,  meanwhile,  was  to  see  my 
friend,  Mr.  Gray,  a  young  architect,  and 
make  a  rough  draft  of  the  village,  as  it 
lay  in  my  mind. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CIKCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER. 

IN  narrating  the  gradual  development  of 
our  economic  experiment,  I  must  be  care- 
ful to  omit  none  of  the  steps  taken,  and 
I  must  try  to  recall  them  exactly  in  the 
order  in  which  we  took  them.  One  idea 
led  to  another.  We  were  taught  by  cir- 
cumstances. 

For  example,  I  had  re-read  some  of  the 
essays  and  books  on  economic  and  philan- 
thropic questions,  and  they  all  seemed  to 
agree  on  the  existence  of  great,  pressing 
evils  in  our  municipal  life,  but  few  of  them 
entered  into  a  discussion  of  remedies ;  that 
is  to  say,  remedies  of  a  social,  fundamental 
nature.  I  was  struck  by  their  rather  impo- 
tent, hopeless  way  of  dealing  with  the 
problems ;  and  one  day,  as  I    revolved   the 

64 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  65 

matter  in  my  mind,  I  happened  to  witness 
a  conflagration ;  a  warehouse  in  our  city 
took  fire,  and  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
As  I  stood  near  the  burning  building,  I 
could  feel  a  distinct  current  of  air  blowing 
in  toward  it ;  then  I  noted  the  great  roar- 
ing column  of  smoke  and  gas  and  embers 
rushing  up  to  the  sky  above  the  building, 
and  saw  it  change  from  its  vertical  course 
to  a  lateral  one,  and  go  drifting  away  across 
the  housetops. 

That  made  me  reflect.  It  gave  me  an 
illustration  of  the  way  in  which  city  life 
burns  up  human  beings.  I  saw  that  there 
were,  at  this  conflagration,  as  at  all  con- 
flagrations, three  lines  of  activity,  three 
currents  of  movement :  an  in-draught,  set- 
ting toward  the  scene  of  the  burning ; 
second,  an  up-draught,  as  the  flames  con- 
sumed the  combustible  materials ;  third,  an 
out-draught,  as  the  cinders  and  ashes  floated 
away  across  the  country,  to  settle  again 
upon  the  earth  at  a  distance. 

That  is  the  way  with  the  social  combus- 


66  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

tion  which  goes  on  in  every  great  city. 
First,  there  is  the  in-draught  of  human 
beings  from  the  surrounding  districts  :  men 
and  women  are  drawn  from  the  country  to 
the  city  in  a  steady  current;  they  seek  the 
city  and  its  excitements,  as  if  attracted  by 
an  invisible  power.  Second,  there  is  the 
unceasing  conflagration  of  human  bodies 
and  souls,  as  these  newcomers  feed  the 
flames  of  struggle  and  competition  and 
ambition.  All  who  can  live,  salamander- 
like, amid  the  fierce  heat,  survive ;  but 
the  many  who  cannot  go  up  in  flame ; 
they  are  more  or  less  burned  up ;  and  the 
analogy  implies  that  they  ought  to  obey 
the  natural  law,  which  would  send  them 
into  the  third  stage.  The  third  stage  is 
the  lateral  current,  which  should  carry 
their  half-consumed  natures  out  again  into 
the  country  districts,  there  to  settle  and 
regain  some  power  and  usefulness. 

Thus  I  reflected,  as  I  walked  away  from 
the  scene  of  the  conflagration.  I  knew  well 
the   existence   of    the    persistent    in-draught 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  67 

from  the  rural  districts ;  and  I  knew  equally 
well  what  combustion  of  human  materials 
went  on  in  the  cities.  What  I  now  desired  to 
see  was  the  setting  up  of  a  steady  out-draught 
of  the  inefficient,  charred,  hopeless  members 
of  city  life.  And  I  felt  as  confident,  at  that 
moment,  as  I  do  now,  after  oar  experiment 
has  succeeded,  that  the  true  solution  was  com- 
prised and  hinted,  in  the  three  great  draughts 
of  that  burning  warehouse. 

A  day  or  two  later  I  spent  an  hour  in  the 
office  of  my  young  friend,  Mr.  Gray,  an  archi- 
tect. He  was  rather  closely  occupied  in  pre- 
paring plans  for  a  hospital,  which  was  to  be 
built  in  a  neighbouring  town,  but  he  kindly 
laid  them  aside,  and  gave  me  the  benefit  of 
his  technical  training,  as  I  submitted  to  him 
my  theory  of  the  new  colony. 

I  will  not  recount  the  details  of  the  inter- 
view, but  will  gather  up  the  results  of  his 
counsel,  as  I  submitted  them  to  my  interested 
friends  at  our  appointed  meeting. 

There  was  a  delay  of  an  evening  or  two, 
because     of    conflicting    engagements ;     but 


68  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

within  a  week  we  all  met,  as  before,  at  my 
house,  and  resumed  the  subject  where  we  had 
left  it.  Naturally  Doctor  Barton  and  Colonel 
Royce  expected  me  to  take  the  lead.  "  Have 
you  held  that  interview  with  your  friend,  the 
architect  ?  "  asked  Doctor  Barton,  with  a  little 
restless  movement  of  his  foot,  habitual  with 
him  when  deeply  interested  in  a  subject. 

Accordingly,  I  set  forth  the  plan,  as  Mr. 
Gray  and  I  had  worked  it  out.  "Excuse 
me,  doctor,"  I  said,  "  if  I  talk  at  some  length, 
but  you  have  your  fresh  cigar,  and  that  will 
lighten  the  tedium  of  my  long  address.  I 
shall  stop  before  you  have  a  quarter  finished 
it." 

The  two  men  and  my  wife  settled  them- 
selves comfortably  in  their  chairs,  and  I 
unfolded  the  following  rough  plan  of  our 
experiment. 

"  We  are  all  practically  agreed,"  said  I,  "  as 
far  as  this  point :  that  the  cities,  or,  —  to 
take  a  definite  case,  —  our  own  city  is  over- 
crowded ;  there  ought  to  be  less  people  within 
our  city  limits,  by  perhaps  a  fifth  or  a  sixth. 


CIKCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  69 

There  isn't  room  for  them,  physically  or  in- 
dustrially. We  are  also  agreed  that  there  is 
an  abundance  of  room  in  the  rural  districts, 
on  the  farm  lands." 

Here  I  reverted  to  the  instance  of  the 
burning  warehouse,  to  illustrate  our  problem, 
in  terms  of  the  in-draught,  up-draught,  and 
out-draught. 

"  Now,  our  problem  is,"  I  went  on,  "  to 
bring  about  a  transfer  of  this  superfluous, 
inefficient  fifth  or  sixth,  from  the  city  to  the 
country.  Very  good,  but  they  won't  go.  And 
why  ?  Not  because  there  is  no  comfortable 
living  to  be  gained  from  farm  life;  I  have 
looked  into  that  matter  and  have  corre- 
sponded with  several  friends  in  rural  com- 
munities, and,  from  all  these  sources,  I  am 
led  to  believe  that  the  comforts  and  some 
of  the  luxuries  of  life  are  to  be  enjoyed  in 
the  farming  districts.  No,  that  is  not  the 
difficulty,  as  you  know.  The  real  objection, 
as  shown  where  a  few  individuals  or  fami- 
lies have  been  scattered  about  in  country 
districts,    lies    in    the    isolation   and    loneli- 


70  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

ness.  These  people  prefer  the  society  of 
their  fellow  beings  to  almost  everything  else 
in  the  world,  even  undergoing  hunger  and 
cold  to  gain  and  keep  it.  This  fundamental 
obstacle  is  removed  by  grouping  families  as 
closely  together  as  possible ;  and  when  once 
we  have  entered  on  that  plan,  a  geometrical 
ideal  group  faces  us ;  there  is  one  way  and 
only  one  way  of  placing  the  largest  possible 
number  of  families  within  the  smallest  pos- 
sible area.  This  inevitable  conclusion  has 
been  reached  by  us,  after  some  groping,  and 
is  exemplified  in  the  arrangement  of  our 
colony,  as  we  hit  upon  it  last  week,  and  as 
Mr.  Gray  and  I  worked  it  out  at  his  office. 

"  The  first  step  is  (assuming  that  Colonel 
Royce  is  interested,  and  can  interest  his 
friends),  to  raise  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  our  *  plant.'  I  am 
aware  that  sums  of  that  magnitude  are  not 
easily  raised,  and  yet  again,  they  do  come 
easily  when  people  are  really  and  hopefully 
interested,  as  I  think  they  must  be,  when 
they  are  told  about  our  reasonable  plan. 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  71 

"  Leaving  that  matter  for  the  present,  I 
state  the  next  step,  which  is  that  we  need  to 
purchase  a  tract  of  land,  not  over  twelve  or 
fifteen  miles  from  this  city,  about  two  miles 
square ;  a  tract  containing  about  three  or 
four  square  miles,  wisely  selected,  would  suit 
our  purpose,  and  could  be  bought  for  ten 
thousand  dollars,  or  possibly  for  less  than 
that  amount.  This  tract  of  land  must  have 
a  general  slope  toward  the  south ;  it  ought 
to  be  on  the  southerly  slope  of  some  range 
of  hills.  It  must  also  have  fairly  good  soil, 
not  necessarily  rich  river-bottom  soil,  but  at 
least  fairly  productive,  and  as  much  better 
than  that  as  we  can  select.  We  need  a  lake 
of  good  water  on  the  northern  side,  for 
supplying  drinking-water ;  this  can  be  con- 
nected with  our  town  by  a  pipe,  and  a  sewer 
can  carry  off  all  drainage  to  some  inlet  of  the 
sea,  or  river  which  has  no  restrictions  placed 
upon  it  by  towns  further  down  its  course. 

"  The  chief  feature  of  all  is,  of  course,  the 
arrangement  of  our  village,  or  city,  which- 
ever we  choose  to  call  it." 


72  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

Here  irrepressible  Doctor  Barton  broke  in, 
"  Call  it  a  city  !  Give  it  a  good-sized,  name  ! 
That  helps,  with  the  kind  of  people  we  are 
to  reach.     Call  it  —  call  it  - —  " 

Here  my  wife  filled  in :  "  Call  it  Circle 
City!" 

"  Capital !  "  responded  Doctor  Barton, 
and  Colonel  Royce  laughed. 

"  Yery  well,  Circle  City  it  shall  be,"  I  said, 
and  I  continued  : 

"  Circle  City  should  be  arranged,  as  we 
saw,  in  a  circle.  Mr.  Gray  and  I  find  that 
a  hundred  families  can  be  grouped,  in  a 
hundred  houses,  in  the  circular  form,  the 
distance  across  the  circle  to  be  about  two 
thousand  feet,  somewhere  near  a  third  of  a 
mile.  So  that  every  family  will  be  within  a 
third  of  a  mile  of  ninety-nine  other  families. 
Or,  counting  four  or  five  persons  to  each 
family,  every  person  in  Circle  City  will 
know  that  there  are  four  or  five  hundred 
other  human  beings  within  a  third  of  a  mile 
of  him ;  certainly  that  is  a  very  different 
state  of  affairs  from  the  usual  country  life, 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  73 

where  the  nearest  neighbour  is  a  half-mile 
away." 

"  In  this  case,"  asked  Colonel  Royce, 
"  how  near  would  the  nearest  neighbour 
be?" 

"  That  leads  me  to  state,"  said  I,  "  that 
Mr.  Gray  and  I  planned  to  give  each  house  a 
frontage  of  sixty  feet,  all  around  the  circle ; 
that  is  to  say,  each  lot  of  land  will  abut  on 
the  central  circle,  and  will  occupy  sixty  feet 
of  its  circumference.  Then  each  house  will 
be  about  twenty  feet  wide,  placed,  perhaps, 
in  the  middle  of  this  distance  of  sixty  feet. 
That  will  leave  twenty  feet  each  side  of  each 
house  ;  so,  to  answer  your  question,  Colonel 
Royce,  every  family  will  have  another  family 
on  either  side  of  it,  and  distant  only  twenty 
feet  plus  twenty  feet,  which  is  forty  feet.  Of 
course,  where  the  four  roads  enter  the  circle, 
that  distance  will  be  slightly  increased. 
Indeed,  the  houses  will  be  too  close  together 
for  good  light,  and  Mr.  Gray  suggested  that 
they  might  alternate,  one  abutting  closely 
upon  the   street,    say  with  a  front   yard    of 


74 


BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 


ten  feet,  and  the  next  one  being  placed  back 
a  hundred  feet.  But  stop !  I  have  prepared 
a  rough  sort  of  plan  of  the  ground.  Let  me 
show  it  to  you  !  " 

So  I  drew  from  my  pocket  the  following 
sketch,  and  spread  it  out  on  the  table  for 
inspection. 


CIRCLE    CITY   ON    PAPER.  75 

"  Those  lots  seem  pretty  small,"  remarked 
my  wife,  doubtfully,  as  she  looked  at  the 
sketch. 

"  Nevertheless,"  said  I,  "  they  represent  an 
actual  frontage  on  that  road,  or  street,  run- 
ning around  the  circle,  of  sixty  feet." 

"  But  the  lots  are  very  narrow  as  they 
run  back,"  said  Colonel  Royce.  "How  can 
a  man  cultivate  a  farm  that  is  shaped  like 
one  of  those  ?" 

"  That  seemed,  at  first,  to  be  a  difficulty," 
I  rejoined ;  "  but  when  you  consider  the 
varied  kinds  of  farming  to  be  carried  on, 
no  difficulty  need  arise.  This  is  what  I 
mean.  Mr.  Gray  suggests  that  all  the  lots 
be  alike,  back  to  a  point  one  hundred  yards 
from  the  street ;  that  will  give  about  a  third 
of  an  acre  for  each  house-lot.  On  that  lot, 
each  family  can  have  space  for  a  vegetable 
garden  and  a  playground  for  children.  So 
far,  all  the  lots  are  to  be  alike.  Then,  back 
of  that  point,  that  is,  at  the  rear  of  those 
house-lots,  the  farms  begin  to  vary  in  shape, 
according  to  the  kind  of  use  to  which  they 


76  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

are  to  be  put.  For  example,  a  man  who 
wishes  to  raise  poultry  and  eggs,  will  take 
one  of  the  narrow  farms ;  and  he  will  not 
need  as  large  a  farm  as  will  the  man  who 
wishes  to  raise  cattle  or  sheep.  The  man 
who  wishes  to  raise  green  vegetables  for 
market,  will  do  better  with  one  of  the  narrow 
and  smaller  farms.  Market  -  gardening,  as 
you  know,  is  most  successful  where  small 
farms  are  worked,  and  worked  carefully, 
with  much  fertilising  of  the  soil.  Perhaps  I 
omitted  to  say  that  communication  with  the 
neighbouring  city  (which  for  convenience's 
sake,  we  will  call  '  The  Metropolis,'  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  Circle  City)  is  to  be  obtained 
by  a  trolley  line.  If  this  tract  of  land,  two 
miles  square,  could  be  found  not  far  from 
a  steam  railroad,  very  good !  But  whether 
so  or  not,  there  should  be  a  good  trolley 
road,  and  it  should  be  equipped  to  carry 
freight  cars,  as  well  as  passenger  cars." 

At  this  point  I  began  to  feel  as  if  I  had 
talked  too  long ;  and  I  urged  my  friends 
to   speak   freely,   as   to   their   ideas    of    the 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  77 

plan.  Doctor  Barton  was  intensely  inter- 
ested in  it,  and  had  risen  excitedly  from 
his  chair  and  was  pacing  the  room,  puffing 
furiously  at  his  cigar.  Colonel  Royce  was, 
of  course,  less  easily  roused,  but  I  felt  sure 
that  he  was  interested.  Presently  he  re- 
marked :  "  That  cutting  up  of  the  lots  is 
an  important  matter.  I  can  see  that  it 
might  be  done,  however.  I  understand  that 
all  the  lots  are  alike,  with  their  sixty  feet 
frontage,  and  running  back  a  hundred  yards. 
Those  lots  you  would  call  house-lots.  Then, 
back  of  that,  the  farms  begin ;  and  they  are 
to  vary  in  size  and  shape,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  farming  which  is  to  be  carried 
on  upon  each." 

"  Yes,"  I  added,  "  and  they  would  vary 
in  shape  and  size  according  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  ground  and  the  quality  of  the 
soil.  If  a  man  wished  to  raise  sheep,  he 
would  need  a  larger  farm  than  would  a 
man  who  wished  to  raise  milk  ;  and  it 
could  be  of  inferior  quality  of  soil,  because 
sheep   will   pick  up  a  good    living  on    kind 


78  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

where  a  cow  would  become  thin  and  value- 
less." 

Then  I  drew  from  my  pocket  another 
rough  draft,  which  Mr.  Gray  and  I  had 
prepared.  "  This  is  something  like  what  I 
mean/'  said  I.  "  The  lots  should  be  cut 
up  in  some  such  fashion  as  this ;  but  this 
is  not  a  final  plan,  because  the  actual  sur- 
veying of  the  farms  cannot  take  place  until 
the  tract  of  land  is  actually  bought,  and 
the  character  of  its  different  portions  is 
carefully  examined." 

Here  I  laid  upon  the  table  the  following 
sketch,  and  I  added  a  few  words  of  explana- 
tion. 

"  You  see  that  farms  1,  2,  and  3  are  for 
poultry,  and  the  others  are  as  stated.  At  the 
left  there  is  a  lane  indicated ;  there  would  be 
need  of  several  of  those,  at  various  points 
around  the  circle ;  they  would  make  trans- 
portation easier,  and  would  give  easier  com- 
munication with  the  village ;  they  could  be 
kept  in  repair  jointly,  by  adjacent  farmers. 
This  sketch  indicates  only  a  small  part  of  the 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER. 


79 


whole  tract  of  four  square  miles,  and  is  en- 
tirely provisional ;  the  actual  allotment  of 
farms    might   vary    considerably    from   this ; 


still,  in  a  general  way,  the  farms  would  re- 
semble these." 

"  You  mentioned  the  sum  of  $150,000,  in 
round  numbers,  as  the  cost  of  all  this,"  said 


80  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

Colonel  Royce,  thoughtfully.  "  Now,  how  do 
you  apportion  the  expenditures  to  the  various 
parts  ?" 

In  reply,  I  referred  to  my  memorandum- 
book,  where  I  had  set  down  a  few  figures. 
"  I  talked  over  the  several  classes  of  expendi- 
tures," said  I,  "  with  Mr.  Gray,  and  with  a 
friend  of  his,  in  the  city  engineer's  office. 
Mr.  Gray  and  I  agreed  that  the  land  would 
not  cost  over  $10,000,  probably  less.  I  have 
seen  real  estate  catalogues  of  several  towns 
north  of  us,  and  land  is  very  cheap :  every- 
body is  looking  toward  the  cities;  many 
farms  are  deserted,  because  of  their  lonely 
situation,  each  of  which,  if  worked  properly, 
would  afford  a  family  a  good  living.  Then, 
regarding  the  houses,  Mr.  Gray  and  I  agreed 
that  they  must  be  small  and  plain.  At  first 
he  was  inclined  to  talk  about  aesthetic  effects, 
which  would  increase  the  cost  of  building,  but 
when  I  reminded  him  of  the  wretched  homes 
from  which  our  colonists  would  come,  he  con- 
fessed that  light  and  cleanliness  were  the 
chief  things  to  be  desired.     So  he  gave  me 


CIKCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  81 

the  amount,  $800,  or  less,  as  the  probable 
sum  at  which  each  of  the  hundred  houses 
could  be  built." 

"  That  is  a  total,  for  building,"  said  Colonel 
Royce,  "  of  $80,000.  But  these  houses  must 
be  drained." 

"  Certainly !  And  the  assistant  engineer 
figured  out  the  cost  of  that  as  amounting  to 
about  $9,000.  That  would  put  a  sewer 
around  the  circle,  and  then  carry  the  sewage 
away  (if  the  soil  was  fairly  favourable  for 
digging),  to  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a 
half. 

"  Then  there  is  the  water-supply,"  I  con- 
tinued. "  The  four  square  miles  of  terri- 
tory must  touch  the  shores  of  some  good 
lake,  and  then,  according  to  the  assistant's 
figures,  $9,000  would  construct  and  start 
a  good  water-supply,  with  faucets  in  every 
house." 

"  That  all  sounds  very  reasonable,"  re- 
marked Colonel  Royce,  as  I  paused.  "  Have 
you  those  amounts  added  up?"  and  I  set 
them  down  as  follows: 


82  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 


EXPENDITURES    FOR    BUILDING    CIRCLE    CITY. 


Cost  of  land        ... 

810,000 

Cost  of  100  houses,  at  $800 

80,000 

Cost  of  water-supply 

9,000 

Cost  of  drainage 

9,000 

Total $108,000 

"  There,"  I  remarked,  "  that  amounts  to 
only  $108,000,  but  I  always  have  a  dread  of 
the  unexpected  but  overwhelming  column  of 
'  incidental  expenses/  and  I  have  allowed 
broadly  for  that.  Moreover,  I  have  not  over- 
looked the  fact  that  these  inexperienced 
farmers  of  ours  will  do  very  poor  work  the 
first  season,  and  they  must  be  helped  out ; 
money  will  be  needed  for  that.  Then,  too, 
several  overseers,  or  superintendents,  experi- 
enced farmers,  will  need  to  be  hired  for  a 
year  or  two,  at  least.  Also,"  I  added,  "  we 
must  supply  these  penniless  colonist  farmers 
with  tools  and  machines.  I  believe  that  very 
economical  use  of  time  and  labour  can  be 
made  by  the  use  of  machinery.  On  the  old- 
fashioned  extensive  farms,  mowing-machines 
and  seed-planters  could  not  be  savingly  used, 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPEE.  83 

but  in  a  closely  grouped  community  like 
Circle  City,  one  mowing-machine  can  be  kept 
steadily  in  use  for  the  entire  mowing  season, 
and  will  cut  the  grass  of  twenty  farms. 
Likewise  a  seed-planter  can  be  transferred 
promptly  from  farm  to  farm,  and  will  out- 
work twenty  men.  So  with  many  other  ma- 
chines and  tools,  to  be  owned,  perhaps,  by  the 
syndicate,  and  rented  on  easy  terms.  The 
cost  of  such  tools  and  machinery  will  be  as 
much  as  ten  thousand  dollars.  That  sum  can 
be  advanced  by  the  syndicate,  and  the  money 
will  be  gradually  paid  back  in  rentals  of  the 
machinery." 

I  was  looking  at  Colonel  Eoyce  as  I  talked, 
anticipating  his  approval,  which  he  presently 
gave.  As  for  Doctor  Barton,  I  knew  that  he 
was  enthusiastic  about  the  plan,  and  so  much 
so  that  I  feared  he  might  not  look  upon  it 
with  sufficiently  critical  eyes.  "  One  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  is  a  large  sum," 
remarked  Colonel  Royce,  in  a  meditative  way. 
"  And  yet  I  have  observed,  that,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  a  large  sum  is  often  quite  as  easy 


84  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

to  raise  as  a  small  one.  I  have  often  been 
amused  to  see  people  screw  up  their  faces  and 
grasp  at  their  pocketbooks,  when  asked  for 
five  dollars,  yet  at  another  time  they  would 
put  down  their  names  for  five  hundred  dollars, 
with  no  greater  contortions,  or  protestations 
of  poverty." 

"  Yes,"  added  Margaret,  my  industrious 
wife,  who  was  sewing  at  a  side  table,  but  was 
closely  following  the  conversation,  "yes,  I 
have  noticed  that  very  thing  when  I  have 
gone  out  soliciting  for  our  Benevolent  Associ- 
ation. I  get  one  or  two  large  givers  to  put 
their  names  down  first,  and  that  sets  the  key, 
and  if  people  give  at  all,  they  give  according 
to  that  standard." 

Colonel  Royce  strode  up  and  down  the 
little  room  several  times,  with  his  hands 
thrust  deeply  into  his  pockets.  The  rest  of 
us  knew  perfectly  well  what  he  was  thinking 
about.  "  Remember  my  offer !  "  said  Doctor 
Barton,  laughing.  "  Put  me  in  the  list,  but 
not  near  the  top  !  Mrs.  Wentworth  is  correct 
in  her  diagnosis    of   human  nature."      And 


CIKCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  85 

then  he  added,  more  seriously,  "  It  would  be 
worth  my  ten  thousand  dollars  to  me,  to  have 
some  outlet  for  the  appeals  of  misery  and 
degradation  which  rise  up  around  me  nearly 
every  day,  as  I  go  my  round  of  professional 
calls.  I  give  and  give,  I  refer  to  this  bureau 
of  relief  and  to  that  one,  and,  all  the  time, 
the  help  is  only  temporary,  and  does  not 
reach  the  seat  of  the  disease." 

That  suggested  an  idea  to  Colonel  Koyce, 
and  he  asked,  "  You  are  not  so  sanguine  as 
to  expect  all  the  colonist  farmers,  who  start 
in  this  scheme,  to  do  efficient  work?" 

"  By  no  means  !  "  exclaimed  Doctor  Barton, 
taking  up  the  challenge.  "  Perhaps  ten 
per  cent,  of  them  will  prove  indolent  or  in- 
competent ;  and  if  so,  after  a  fair  trial,  they 
must  be  weeded  out,  and  more  earnest  people 
substituted  for  them.  It  does  not  require  any 
higher  grade  of  intelligence  or  education  than 
most  of  these  starving,  despairing  people  pos- 
sess ;  the  great  defect  of  the  farmer  class,  in 
New  England  and  the  Middle  States,  is  lazi- 
ness.     I  have  a  cousin,  a  storekeeper  in  a 


86  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

little  rural  town  not  far  from  here,  and  he 
has  told  me  that  the  failure  of  most  farms 
is  because  of  the  shiftless  indolence  of  their 
owners." 

"  And,  partly,  too,  from  the  lack  of  stimu- 
lus," I  added.  "  Sometimes  a  }Toung  man  is 
lazy  and  torpid  in  the  country,  and  when 
he  migrates  to  some  city,  the  whirl  and  rush 
of  human  activity,  all  about  him,  stimulates 
and  rouses  him  to  unprecedented  exertion. 
And  that  is  one  of  the  important  points  in 
the  construction  of  our  little  colony.  It  will 
be  large  enough,  and  compact  enough,  to  de- 
velop that  stimulating  atmosphere  which  is 
needful  for  the  full  exertion  of  many  kinds 
of  natures." 

At  that  moment,  the  door-bell  sounded, 
and,  in  a  moment,  a  summons  came  for 
Doctor  Barton.  A  child,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  city,  was  in  need  of  immediate  atten- 
tion. The  doctor's  housemaid  brought  the 
message,  and  Doctor  Barton  arose  at  once, 
said  good  night,  and  promptly  took  his  depar- 
ture. 


CIRCLE    CITY    ON    PAPER.  87 

After  lie  was  gone,  we  noted  where  his 
power  lay.  Colonel  Royce  saw  it,  for  he  said, 
with  a  smile,  "Doctor  Barton's  departure 
lowers  the  temperature.  What  a  warm, 
stimulating,  optimistic  nature  he  has !  What 
a  helping  influence  he  must  be,  in  a  sick- 
room !  " 

Then  the  rather  taciturn  man  looked  at  his 
watch,  and  said,  "  I  must  be  off.  It  is  grow- 
ing late.  I  have  thought  this  matter  over 
a  great  deal,  and  now,  if  you  will  draw  off 
for  me,  on  a  small  sheet  of  paper,  duplicates 
of  these  plans  and  estimates,  I  will  see  what 
I  can  do  with  them  on  the  street." 

Said  my  wife,  after  the  outer  door  closed 
behind  him,  "  That  means  that  the  $150,000 
is  sure  to  come." 

"  Yes,  I  think  it  does.  Colonel  Royce  has 
a  great  deal  of  money,  himself,  and  his  friends 
will  follow  him  in  any  enterprise  which  he 
urges.  I  believe  I  would  be  safe  in  beginning 
some  inquiries  about  possible  tracts  of  land." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

CIRCLE    CITY   IN    REALITY. 

THE  next  day,  I  sent  Colonel  Royce  copies 
of  the  plans  of  our  colony,  as  far  as  we 
had  worked  them  out,  together  with  our  ap- 
proximate estimates.  I  knew  his  ways,  and 
habits  of  thought,  and  I  was  sure  that  he 
would  reflect  carefully,  and  at  some  length, 
upon  the  matter,  before  approaching  any  of 
his  friends  with  appeals  for  their  money  and 
support. 

During  the  week  or  ten  days  following,  I 
was  crowded  with  work  in  my  parish,  and 
no  opportunity  offered  for  a  journey  into  the 
country  districts,  in  search  of  a  suitable  site 
for  our  colony.  But  I  wrote  several  letters 
to  persons  of  my  acquaintance,  in  several 
towns,  and  Doctor  Barton  also  followed  out 
a  few  lines  of  inquiry,  on  his  own  account. 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN   REALITY.  89 

He  came  in,  one  evening,  for  a  few  minutes, 
to  tell  me  how  he  was  progressing,  and  in- 
cidentally mentioned  a  recent  book,  written 
by  the  Russian  Kropotkin,  in  which  he  had 
become  much  interested.  "I  don't  follow 
Kropotkin  in  all  his  theories,"  said  the  doctor, 
shaking  his  head,  "  but  I  was  struck  by  his 
advocacy  of  the  very  remedy  for  city  destitu- 
tion which  we  are  working  out.  He  says 
that  the  untilled,  undeveloped  country  dis- 
tricts offer  the  natural  outlet  for  the  crowded 
cities.  And  then  he  makes  some  capital 
suggestions,  which  we  will  do  well  to  bear 
in  mind.  I  will  get  the  book  for  you,  and 
you  must  read  it.  He  suggests  that  there  are 
many  minor  industries,  small  manufactures, 
which  can  be  carried  on  in  the  country,  quite 
as  well  as  in  the  city." 

I  was  interested  in  the  doctor's  words,  for, 
as  I  at  once  told  him,  I  had  recently  received 
a  letter,  in  response  to  one  of  my  own,  from 

Mr.  X ,  a  specialist  in  charity  problems 

and  a  resident  of  a  college  settlement  in  one 
of   our   largest   cities,    and  Mr.    X had 


90  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

urged  this  same  project  of  small  industries 
as  a  part  of  our  scheme.  "  It  is  well  worth 
considering,"  said  I,  "  and  it  adds  just  this 
one  more  needed  condition,  in  our  search  for 
a  good  site :  we  must  find  a  tract  of  land 
with  water-power  on  it." 

So  this  feature  was  noted  by  both  of  us, 
and  was  specified  in  the  letters  and  inquiries 
which  we  wrote  and  made,  among  our  friends 
in  the  country  districts. 

Finally  a  day  came  when  the  doctor  and 
I  were  both  at  leisure  to  make  a  journey  of 
inspection  in  the  country.  Out  of  the  bundle 
of  letters  which  we  had  received,  we  had 
selected  three  or  four  as  possible  purchases. 
The  conditions  and  requirements,  which  we 
had  laid  down  in  our  own  minds,  were  mainly 
these : 

First,  the  tract  of  land  must  be  not  over 
twenty  miles  from  the  city. 

Second,  it  must  be  at  least  good  average 
land,  from  an  agricultural  point  of  view. 

Third,  it  might  have  some  hills,  but  the 
general  slope  must  be  toward  the  south. 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN   REALITY.  91 

Fourth,  it  must  have  a  good,  clear  lake 
within  reach,  for  water-supply,  and  a  river 
or  bay  not  too  remote  for  sewage  outlet. 

Fifth,  we  were  not  very  decided  as  to  price, 
but  were  agreed  that  no  forced  price  should 
be  paid  ;  but  we  expected  to  follow  the  market 
price  of  the  locality  chosen,  and  hoped  to  come 
within  the  figure  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 

I  will  not  take  the  time  and  space,  here, 
to  narrate  the  incidents  of  our  three  jour- 
neys. For  not  until  a  third  journey  was 
undertaken  did  we  find  a  tract  of  country 
which  suited  us.  One  other  tract  we  dis- 
covered, the  first  day,  but  concluded  to  go 
through  our  list,  and  then  select  the  best. 
We  found  the  journeys  not  unenjoyable,  and 
Doctor  Barton's  zeal  was  unbounded.  The 
best  site,  out  of  the  six  we  investigated,  was 
one  suggested  by  Doctor  Barton's  store-keep- 
ing cousin.  This  man  proved  to  be  of  great 
assistance  to  us.  He  was  shrewd  and  thrifty, 
and  had  reflected  wisely  on  the  conditions 
of  country  life.  He  was  an  ardent  admirer 
of   the    doctor,  and   told   me    privately  that 


92  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

he  owed  the  life  of  one  of  his  boys  to  Doctor 
Barton's  skill  and  faithfulness. 

Although  Doctor  Barton  believed  him  to 
be  a  trustworthy  man,  I  thought  it  best  that 
we  should  not  let  him  into  the  secret  of  our 
interest  in  buying  land.  I  feared  that,  if  our 
project  became  known,  the  price  of  the  land 
would  at  once  rise.  Moreover,  we  were  by 
no  means  sure  that  the  project  would  be 
carried  out.  So  we  went  with  Mr.  Gleason, 
the  storekeeper,  over  the  entire  tract  which 
he  had  suggested,  and  were  much  pleased 
with  it.  It  was  made  up  of  several  farms, 
only  two  or  three  being  under  cultivation. 
The  others  were  owned  by  men  who  had 
long  since  gone  away  to  the  large  towns  and 
cities,  and  left  the  houses  and  buildings  to  fall 
into  ruin.  The  two  farms  which  were  being 
worked  were  typical  of  the  shiftless,  unprofit- 
able methods  so  prevalent  in  the  Eastern  and 
Middle  States.  They  contained  two  or  three 
hundred  acres,  and  were  only  half  developed, 
or,  rather,  judged  by  the  highest  standards, 
not  one-tenth  cultivated. 


CIRCLE    CITY    Itf    REALITY.  93 

"  How  different  from  the  tiny  farms  which 
I  have  seen  in  Belgium  and  France ! " 
remarked  Doctor  Barton,  reflectively.  "  How 
unscientific  !     How  unremunerative  !  " 

And  I  recalled  small,  compact,  well- 
nourished  market-gardens  which  I  had  seen, 
in  our  own  country ;  and  the  difference 
between  those  and  these  was  very  marked. 

Taking  the  land  as  a  whole,  we  were  much 
pleased  with  it.  The  soil  varied,  in  various 
parts  of  the  tract ;  there  was  some  soil  that 
was  light,  and  other  parts  that  were  heavier. 
A  few  hundred  acres  were  covered  with 
timber,  and  there  were  several  small  spaces 
which  seemed  rather  rocky  and  barren ;  but, 
taking  the  tract  as  a  whole,  with  the  several 
streams  running  through  it,  and  the  clear 
spring-fed  lake  a  mile  and  a  half  away  at 
the  north,  and  the  good  drainage  outlet  in 
Weir  River,  at  the  south,  well,  we  were 
greatly  pleased  at  the  possibilities  it  offered 
for  our  plan  of  colonisation.  However,  we 
said  very  little  in  Mr.  Gleason's  presence, 
and  I  think  that,  for  some  time,  he  fancied 


94  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

we  wished  to  acquire  the  land  for  some  sort 
of  a  country  residence  or  club  resort,  with 
preserves  for  game  and  fish. 

We  made  inquiries  of  Mr.  Gleason,  regard- 
ing the  probable  cost  of  the  land,  farms  and 
all,  and  he  named  a  probable  figure  which 
fell  within  our  own  estimate.  Moreover,  he 
said  that  there  would  be  very  little  difficulty 
about  buying,  especially  if  cash  were  offered. 

So  Doctor  Barton  and  I  made  our  way 
back  to  the  railway  station,  about  three 
miles  distant,  and  reached  home  late  in  the 
day,  but  much  pleased  with  our  journey  and 
its  possible  results. 

The  next  step  was  to  take  Colonel  Koyce 
out  to  the  proposed  site,  and  let  him  see,  with 
his  own  eyes,  what  the  land  looked  like. 
But  we  were  afraid  lest  a  second  visit,  so 
soon  after  the  first  one,  might  arouse  too 
much  curiosity  on  the  part  of  the  people  in 
that  region,  and  might  affect  the  prices  of 
the  farms.  Accordingly  Doctor  Barton,  who 
was  always  full  of  resources,  suggested  that 
the  trip  be  made  as  a  fishing  and  hunting 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN    REALITY.  95 

excursion ;  and  this  suggestion,  after  con- 
siderable amusement  on  everybody's  part, 
was  carried  out.  I  found  myself  unable  to 
go,  on  the  day  appointed,  because  of  a 
funeral  service  which  I  was  unexpectedly 
called  to  attend ;  but  Doctor  Barton  and 
Colonel  Royce,  and  a  friend  of  the  colonel's 
(one  of  several  to  whom  the  colonel  had 
talked  concerning  our  proposed  plan),  these 
three  actually  made  their  tour  of  inspection, 
dressed  as  if  for  a  day's  fishing  or  shooting, 
reaching  the  place  by  a  different  railway,  and 
a  six-mile  drive  across  country. 

The  trip  was  most  successful.  Not  even 
Mr.  Gleason  had  any  knowledge  of  their  visit. 
They  tramped  over  the  land,  chatted  with 
the  rather  shiftless  families  on  the  occupied 
farms,  waded  the  brooks,  and  visited  the  lake 
on  the  northern  edge  of  the  tract.  When 
they  returned  they  were  much  exhausted  by 
their  tramping,  and  I  saw  only  Doctor 
Barton ;  but  he  told  me  that  Colonel  Royce 
and  his  friend,  a  wealthy  retired  merchant, 
were  greatly  interested  in  the  plan. 


96  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

I  heard  nothing  from  Colonel  Royce,  for 
several  days.  Then  I  received  a  message 
asking  me  to  be  in  his  office  on  a  certain 
date  and  hour. 

At  the  hour  appointed  I  was  there,  and 
found  the  luxuriously  furnished  room  occu- 
pied by  Doctor  Barton,  Colonel  Royce,  and 
several  other  men,  one  or  two  of  whom  I 
already  knew  as  men  of  wealth  and  of 
philanthropic  spirit.  My  friend  Gray,  the 
architect,  also  had  been  summoned,  and  sat 
reading  a  magazine  in  the  corner  of  the 
room.  After  a  few  introductions,  and  some 
general  remarks  on  the  weather  and  business, 
Colonel  Royce  broached  the  subject  which 
had  brought  us  together.  "  I  have  already 
explained  to  you  gentlemen,  separately,"  said 
he,  in  his  slow,  deliberate  way,  "the  plan 
which  we  are  working  out.  I  do  not  wish 
to  paint  it  in  rose  colours ;  there  are  diffi- 
culties about  it,  and  I  face  them  candidly; 
but  I  believe  in  the  plan  strongly  enough 
to  put  some  money  into  it.  In  fact,  Mr. 
Wentworth,"    said   he,   turning   toward   me, 


CIRCLE    CITY   m   REALITY.  97 

"I  may  as  well  tell  you,  at  once,  that 
several  of  us,  including  Doctor  Barton,  have 
put  our  hearts  and  our  pocketbooks  together, 
and  we  see  our  way  clear  to  purchase  the 
tract  of  land ;  we  have,  in  fact,  secured  all 
the  farms  comprised  in  it.  One  man,  who 
had  not  seen  his  property  for  ten  years, 
was  at  first  inclined  to  hold  back,  saying 
that  he  could  not  quite  bring  himself  to 
sell  his  old  home,  —  it  was  evidently  very 
dear  to  him ;  but  we  partly  explained  to 
him  our  disinterested  plan,  and  he  turned 
straight  around  and  made  us  a  gift  of  the 
place.  He  said  he  would  make  an  offering 
of  it  to  the  Lord,  through  our  instrumen- 
tality. Then  there  was  another  owner,  one 
of  the  men  still  living  on  the  farm,  who 
tried  to  get  an  exorbitant  price ;  but  he 
was  told  flatly  that  we  could  probably  find 
land  elsewhere,  and  we  would  buy  at  our 
price — a  good  fair  one  —  or  let  him  keep 
it;  and  that  brought  him  to  terms.  Our 
friend  Gleason  managed  that  purchase  for 
us,  and  managed  it  well,  I'm   free   to   say. 


98  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

The  total  cost  of  the  land  will  be  about 
eighty-eight  hundred  dollars,  I  believe.  We 
have  deemed  it  advisable  to  group  ourselves 
together,  into  a  kind  of  syndicate,  and  these 
papers  on  the  desk  have  been  drawn  up, 
and  signed  by  all  except  yourself.  We  do 
not  expect  you,  Mr.  Wentworth,  to  give 
money,  because  you,  like  most  clergymen, 
have  no  great  abundance  of  worldly  goods ; 
but  we  need  your  help  in  many  ways,  and 
your  position  in  the  syndicate  is  clearly 
stated  in  the  papers,  which  I  will  thank 
you  to  sign." 

As  I  glanced  through  the  papers,  one  of 
the  men,  a  retired  banker,  said :  "  This  is 
a  novel  kind  of  scheme,  and  I  don't  know 
how  it  will  turn  out ;  but  I  feel  inclined  to 
see  it  through,  and  enjoy  the  use  of  my 
money,  instead  of  leaving  all  of  it  for  my 
heirs  to  dispose  of.  Isn't  that  a  good  idea, 
Mr.  Clancy?"  and  he  turned  toward  the  man 
next  him,  as  he  spoke. 

Mr.  Clancy  nodded  and  smiled,  and  added, 
jocosely,  "  I  expect  to  make  money  out  of  it. 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN    REALITY.  99 

The  rate  of  interest  is  falling,  and  invest- 
ments are  more  and  more  risky.  I  expect, 
at  least,  five  per  cent,  dividends  on  my 
share." 

They  all  laughed,  and  there  seemed  to  be 
a  very  easy  feeling  among  them.  I  knew 
that  two  or  three  of  them  were  rated  as 
millionaires,  and  I  was  pleased  to  see  how 
ready  they  were  to  do  good  with  their 
wealth. 

Colonel  Royce  now  took  the  lead,  and 
said :  "  We  need  to  set  about  our  building 
at  once.  October  is  nearly  gone,  and,  with 
a  little  energy,  we  can  have  our  dwelling- 
houses  all  up  and  boarded  in,  before  snow 
comes.  Mr.  Gray  and  a  builder,  whom  I 
have  consulted,  agree  that  a  large  force  of 
men,  if  set  at  work  next  week,  can  accom- 
plish this.  We  have  practically  agreed  on 
the  size  and  plans  of  the  buildings.  They 
are  to  be  substantially  alike,  with  a  few 
variations  in  the  way  of  porches  and  piazzas 
and  bay  windows.  Here  are  the  plans  of  the 
kind  of   house  which  we  intend  to  put  up." 


100 


BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 


1    FIRST  FLOOR  PLAN 


CIKCLE    CITY    IN    REALITY.  101 


STORE 
CLOSLT 


6ED  ROOM 
II  ft.  x  13  ft 


I i 


5EC0ND  FLOOR  PLAN 


102  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

And  he  laid  on  the  table  two  drawings,  pre- 
pared by  my  friend  Gray. 

"  Five  rooms  in  each.  That  is  enough,"  he 
continued ;  "  a  kitchen  and  living-room  on 
the  lower  floor,  and  three  bedrooms  on  the 
second.  That  is  not  quite  the  way  in  which 
you  and  I  live,  Mr.  Harrison,"  he  added, 
drily,  addressing  a  portly  gentleman  near 
him.  "  But  a  family  of  four  or  six  in  a  house 
like  that  is  better  than  two  families  of  six 
each  in  one  room." 

"  They'll  think  they  are  in  heaven ; "  re- 
marked Mr.  Clancy,  sententiously. 

Thus  the  various  steps  were  taken  up, 
one  after  another.  I  saw  that,  although  this 
was  the  first  meeting,  officially,  of  the  Circle 
City  Syndicate  (for  thus  Colonel  Royce  had 
named  it  in  the  articles  of  partnership),  there 
had  been  considerable  individual  activity. 
Colonel  Royce's  influence  had  been  powerful, 
and  his  leadership  was  almost  magnetic.  Mr. 
Gray  had  named  the  sum  of  eight  hundred 
dollars  as  the  probable  cost  of  each  house, 
and  Doctor  Barton,  with  two  or  three  sur- 


CIRCLE    CITY    IX   REALITY.  103 

veyors,  had  already  been  out  and  plotted  the 
circle  which  was  to  be  the  centre  of  the 
colony. 

The  work  of  engaging  day-labourers  for 
digging  the  cellars,  carpenters  for  the  houses, 
wagons  for  transportation,  and  many  other 
matters,  was  divided  into  committees,  and 
discussed  informally.  Then,  after  some  talk 
among  the  members  of  these  several  commit- 
tees, the  meeting  adjourned. 

I  confess  that  I  went  homeward  in  much 
elation  of  heart.  I  told  Margaret  all  about 
the  meeting,  and  promised  to  drive  her  out,  in 
a  few  days,  to  see  the  progress  of  the  work. 
I  knew  that  those  men  would  push  it  along 
at  an  unprecedented  rate  of  speed ;  nearly 
every  one  of  them  was  an  active,  able  man, 
and  commanded  great  resources,  and  I  had 
observed  that  they  were  much  interested  in 
the  rather  novel  scheme.  "  What  you  and  I 
must  do,  Margaret,"  I  said  to  my  wife,  "  is  to 
put  ourselves  as  closely  as  possible  in  touch 
with  the  charity  bureaus,  and  workingmen's 
unions,  and  similar  organisations,  and  we  must 


104  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

have  ready,  in  the  early  spring,  a  hundred  of 
just  the  right  families  to  go  out  and  take 
possession  of  this  promised  land."  And  I 
kissed  my  wife  on  both  cheeks,  from  sheer  joy 
at  the  hopeful  outlook  of  events. 

Well,  we  took  the  drive  on  the  Wednesday 
following,  and,  much  as  I  expected  to  see 
activity  and  intelligence  displayed  by  these 
clear-headed,  strong-willed  business  men,  I 
underestimated  them.  Doctor  Barton  and 
the  surveyors  had  chosen  the  location  of  the 
circle  wisely,  taking  into  account  the  soil, 
slope  of  the  land,  water-courses,  and  other 
important  matters.  I  could  not  conceal  my 
delight,  as  we  drove  over  a  low  ridge  of  land, 
and  looked  across  at  the  future  colony.  Hun- 
dreds of  men  were  at  work.  It  was  a  scene 
of  the  most  intense  activity,  but  the  work 
had  been  planned  very  carefully,  so  that  the 
different  parts  did  not  interfere  with  one 
another. 

As  I  drove  up  the  slightly  rising  ground, 
and  reached  the  scene,  it  reminded  me  of  the 
preparations  for  one  of  the  great  college  foot- 


CIECLE    CITY. IN    EEALITT.  105 

ball  games,  except  that  it  was  on  an  area 
about  four  times  as  great.  I  recognised  Mr. 
Clancy,  who  was  not  far  away,  talking  with 
two  or  three  contractors.  From  him  I  learned 
that  the  S.  &  B.  Trolley  Railroad  had  voted, 
the  day  before,  to  lay  a  track  from  the  city 
out  to  the  colony,  and  take  half  the  risk,  the 
syndicate  to  be  responsible  for  the  other  half. 
"  They  will  begin  work  to-morrow,"  said  Mr. 
Clancy,  "  and,  if  the  heavy  frost  holds  off, 
will  have  the  harder  part  of  their  work  done 
by  the  first  of  December." 

Then  he  and  I  talked  about  the  railroad, 
and  the  use  of  electricity  in  the  small  manu- 
factures which  we  planned  for  a  part  of  the 
colonists.  "  We  have  two  or  three  excellent 
falls  in  the  streams  not  far  from  here,"  said 
he,  "and  we  can  use  them  to  get  electrical 
power,  and  then  transmit  that  power  very 
easily  to  any  house  or  shop  in  the  colony.  I 
have  glanced  over  the  tract  of  land,  and 
judge  that  it  covers  something  less  than  four 
square  miles ;  most  of  it  is  at  least  fairly 
good  for  some  kind  of  farming,  and  some  of 


106  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

it  is  excellent.  But  a  portion  of  it  is  too 
rocky  for  much  value,  and  we  must  assign 
our  people  to  the  farms  in  such  a  way  that 
the  manufacturing  interests  shall  supplement 
the  farming  interests." 

"  The  more  I  look  into  these  matters  of 
suburban  colonisation,"  said  I,  "  and  view 
them  in  the  light  of  modern  inventions,  the 
more  I  see  how  science  is  a  powerful  ally  in 
developing  the  resources  of  country  life.  We 
must  make  use  of  every  possible  invention." 

"  That  is  certainly  true,"  responded  Mr. 
Clancy.  "  We  are  having  this  fact  forced 
upon  us  here  daily.  I  am  in  correspondence 
with  an  electric-light  man,  who  came  out 
here  a  week  ago,  and  he  tells  me  that,  with 
our  water-power  from  the  falls,  we  can  very 
properly  and  reasonably  light  our  entire  circle 
of  homes  with  electricity.  The  houses  are 
so  closely  grouped  that  the  cost  of  wiring 
would  be  not  great,  and,  as  you  know,  the 
amount  of  electricity  used  can  be  measured, 
and  we  intend  to  do  away  with  the  usual 
nauseating  tenement-house  odour  of  kerosene 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN   REALITY.  107 

altogether.  Besides,  as  Colonel  Royce  sug- 
gested, wiring  is  now  carefully  done,  and  the 
danger  of  conflagrations  will  be  materially 
reduced." 

Margaret  and  I  drove  and  walked  about,  for 
an  hour  or  two,  and  noted  the  rapid  progress 
which  was  making.  And  when  I  remarked 
to  her  that  it  was  a  great  and  grand  enter- 
prise, she  replied,  cautiously,  that  she  was 
glad  I  had  not  the  whole  responsibility.  To 
which  I  rejoined  that  lack  of  money  was  the 
only  barrier  which  prevented  me  from  putting 
my  whole  strength  and  time  into  it. 

"  However,"  said  I,  as  we  turned  our  horse's 
head  homeward,  and  left  the  clatter  of  ham- 
mers and  saws  behind,  "  we  have  responsibili- 
ties quite  as  great.  We  have,  for  our  part, 
to  deal,  not  with  wood  and  stone  and  earth, 
but  with  human  nature ;  and  I  doubt  if  we 
shall  find  it  the  easiest  kind  of  material  to 
fashion.  We  shall  need  all  our  wisdom  and 
patience  to  have  ready  our  hundred  worthy 
families  for  their  springtime  migration." 

Margaret   was   humming    a    little   refrain 


108  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

from  "  Faust,"  and  did  not  reply  for  several 
moments ;  then  she  remarked,  "  I  think  the 
colony  idea  is  a  good  one ;  at  least,  the  end 
which  it  seeks  to  accomplish  is  excellent,  but 
I  am  a  little  uneasy  when  I  reflect  upon  the 
gigantic  scale  on  which  it  is  planned.  I  wish 
it  could  be  tried,  at  first,  on  a  small  scale, 
at  much  less  expense ;  and  then  —  but  there, 
I  know,  of  course,  that  it  cannot.  The  most 
essential  element  of  the  plan  is  that  it 
plants  a  large  number  of  families  upon  the 
soil  together,  and  thereby  meets  the  love  of 
companionship  and  society  which  all  people 
feel." 

"  Exactly  so,"  I  added ;  "  and  while  we 
may  wish,  most  earnestly,  that  the  desire  for 
human  companionship  and  social  stimulus 
were  eliminated  from  human  hearts  (at  least 
from  the  hearts  of  certain  needy,  distressed 
classes),  yet  we  must  face  the  fact  of  its 
powerful  presence  in  all  hearts,  and  then  try 
to  deal  with  it  wisely.  It  sometimes  comes 
to  me,  as  an  excellent  illustration  of  that 
text,  taken  from  the  story  of  Christ's  tempta- 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN   REALITY.  109 

tion,  '  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone.' 
For,  as  both  you  and  I  have  observed,  people 
will  deliberately  give  up  food  and  clothing, 
and  all  the  natural  comforts  of  existence, 
sooner  than  give  up  the  companionship  and 
excitement  of  busy,  stirring  human  life." 

"  Yes,  and  there  is  something  inspiring  in 
that  fact,  adversely  as  it  works  when  we  try 
to  carry  out  our  plan.  It  is  a  declaration  of 
the  spiritual  and  immortal  nature  of  man, 
and  goes  far  to  offset  some  of  the  more  mate- 
rial and  animal  instincts,  which  often  seem  so 
suggestive  of  a  base  source  and  destiny  for 
human  nature." 

We  reached  home  in  due  time,  and  tried  to 
put  out  of  our  minds  all  ideas  about  Circle 
City,  as  we  took  up  again  the  regular  duties 
of  parish  life.  But  the  novelty  of  the  plan, 
and  the  hearty,  hopeful  way  in  which  our 
generous  friends  of  the  syndicate  were  taking 
hold  of  it,  these  matters  brought  the  subject 
constantly  into  the  foreground  of  our  thought ; 
and  we  exchanged  remarks,  again  and  again, 
on    the    problems    of   crops,  sewage,   electric 


110  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

power,  and  the  like,  when  we  ought  to  have 
been  absorbed  in  Sunday-school  and  sewing 
society  matters. 

We  heard,  through  Doctor  Barton,  two  or 
three  times  a  week,  how  the  work  was  going 
forward.  He  was  considerably  pleased  over 
a  plan  of  his  own  for  heating  all  the  houses 
of  the  colony  with  steam  by  pipes  running 
from  a  boiler-house  placed  just  outside  the 
circle.  "  I  have  seen  enough  of  these  cold 
farmhouses,  in  my  time,"  said  he,  "  to  know 
that,  however  highly  our  fathers  praised  them 
as  encouraging  hardihood  and  physical  endur- 
ance, they  really  killed  off,  with  consump- 
tion and  pneumonia,  more  lives  than  they 
saved  or  hardened.  And  we  are  going  to  run 
a  main  supply  steam-pipe  around  the  circle, 
and  tap  it  at  each  house,  and  put  radiators  in 
at  least  one  or  two,  or  all  the  rooms.  I  had 
to  put  heat  into  my  cook's  room,  at  home, 
last  winter,  or  she  would  not  stay.  I  don't 
blame  her  very  much,  either ;  and  we  can 
make  these  people  more  comfortable  than  the 
old-time  farmers  ever  were,  and  save    some- 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN   REALITY.  Ill 

thing  on  hot-air  stoves,  —  inventions  of  the 
evil  one  ! " 

I  had  never  seen  the  doctor  so  happy  and 
enthusiastic  before.  He  was  committed  to 
the  plan,  not  only  in  pocket,  but  in  head  and 
heart.  He  smoked  twice  his  usual  amount, 
whenever  he  came  in  to  see  us,  and  refused 
to  talk  of  anything  except  subjects  connected 
with  the  colonisation  plan.  My  wife  chaffed 
him  a  little  at  times,  even  suggesting  that  he 
would  probably  take  up  his  abode  in  Circle 
City  as  soon  as  it  was  ready. 

"I  might  do  worse,"  affirmed  the  doctor; 
not  relinquishing  his  position.  "  Those 
houses  are  not  large,  but  they  are  snug  and 
comfortable.  I  could  live  in  one  perfectly 
well.  After  all,  we  are,  most  of  us,  slaves  to 
our  possessions  and  victims  of  our  artificial 
kind  of  life." 

"  How  nearly  complete  are  the  houses  ?  "  I 
asked,  one  evening  in  November. 

"  Oh,  they  are  moving  along  in  a  very 
satisfactory  manner,"  said  he,  rubbing  his 
hands  together,  with  pardonable  satisfaction. 


112  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

"  Have  you  heard  about  Mr.  Clancy's  latest 
plan  for  improvements  ?  " 

I  had  not.  And  the  doctor  explained. 
"  Mr.  Clancy  is  a  very  resourceful  man,  with 
great  initiative  and  plenty  of  boldness  in 
execution.  He  is  just  now  arranging  to  do 
away  with  the  usual  coal  cooking-stoves,  in 
all  the  kitchens.  He  has  calculated  cost,  and 
finds  that  he  can  build  a  small  gasometer  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  colony,  and  put  gas-fed 
cooking-stoves  into  all  the  kitchens.  One 
small  steam-radiator  in  each  kitchen  will 
furnish  heat  enough  for  personal  comfort. 
This  plan  will  not  include  hot-water  tanks, 
such  as  you  and  I  have  in  our  houses,  for 
those  involve  considerable  expense  ;  but  with- 
out them  the  scheme  is  economical,  and, 
besides,  there  is  much  greater  cleanliness, 
with  gas,  than  with  coal  and  ashes." 

"  Just  how  far  along  are  the  houses,  them- 
selves ?  "  I  asked,  after  expressing  my  approval 
of  the  cook-stoves. 

"  They  are  nearly  all  l  covered  in,'  as  the 
builders  say,  and  Colonel  Royce  has  decided 


CIRCLE    CITY    IX    REALITY.  113 

to  discharge  fifty  or  a  hundred  of  the  men. 
He  engaged  them  for  only  a  month,  intend- 
ing, after  the  houses  were  up  and  protected 
from  the  weather,  to  retain  a  part  of  the 
working  force,  and  proceed  more  leisurely 
through  the  winter.  What  a  capital  execu- 
tive mind  that  man  has !  And  Mr.  Clancy, 
too  !  No  wonder  he  made  millions  in  his  real 
estate  transactions  !  He  has  the  elements  of 
a  great  general  in  him.  You  ought  to  see 
him  direct  and  manipulate  his  cohorts  of 
carpenters  and  day-labourers !  He  does  it  in 
a  marvellous  way." 

"I  hope,"  said  my  wife,  apprehensively, 
"that  he  won't  expose  himself,  and  injure 
his  health.  He  is  not  a  young  man,  and 
needs  to  take  care  of  himself.  I  can't  help 
wondering  a  little  why  he  has  gone  into  this 
plan  so  earnestly.  He  has  not  been  called  a 
particularly  generous  man." 

"  Quite  the  reverse !  "  interrupted  Doctor 
Barton.  "Colonel  Royce  and  I  were  speak- 
ing of  that  very  point,  a  few  days  ago,  and 
the  colonel  had    framed  this  solution  of  the 


114  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

matter.  He  believes  that  Mr.  Clancy  is 
naturally  a  generous,  kind-hearted  man,  but 
he  has  been  so  attacked  and  condemned, 
because  of  his  success  in  building  up  his 
department  stores,  that  he  has  become  embit- 
tered, and  has  retorted,  many  times,  by  word 
and  deed,  in  such  ways  that  people  have  set 
him  down  as  a  hard,  selfish  man.  And  he, 
finding  that  such  was  his  reputation,  has 
unconsciously  lived  up  to  it.  Now  that  he 
has  retired,  and  Colonel  Royce  approached 
him  in  the  right  way,  he  has  thrown  all  his 
rare  powers  into  this  plan,  and  finds  joy  in 
the  thought  of  the  good  it  will  accomplish." 

Thus  the  weeks  wore  away,  and  winter 
came  on.  There  was  little  to  be  seen  of 
autumn  foliage,  in  the  narrow  city  life  which 
I  led.  But  winter  was  indicated  by  the 
increasing  coldness  of  the  air,  and  by  my 
enlarging  list  of  applicants  for  help.  I  found 
myself,  in  nearly  every  appeal  that  came  to 
me,  silently  passing  judgment  on  the  appli- 
cant, as  to  whether  or  not  he  or  she  would 
be    a   proper   and   useful   member   of   Circle 


CIRCLE    CITY    IN    REALITY.  115 

City.  However,  I  did  not  take  any  active 
steps  toward  gathering  my  company  of 
colonists  together,  until  after  New  Year's. 
To  tell  the  truth  about  it,  I  had  some  fears 
about  my  success  in  this  part  of  the  plan,  and 
my  fears  were  well  founded. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FEOM    HEDGES    AND    BY  -  WATS. 

AT  Christmas  time  our  church  gave  its 
usual  festival  for  the  poor  in  one  of 
the  lower  wards  of  the  city;  and  at  that 
time  I  took  occasion  to  make  a  list  of 
twenty  or  thirty  families  who  seemed  to  be 
of  the  sort  best  suited  to  our  plan.  After 
the  new  year  had  come  in,  and  the  extra 
work  of  the  holidays  —  so  heavy  for  most 
clergymen  —  had  been  accomplished,  I  de- 
cided to  call  together  these  families,  or 
representative  members  of  them,  and  explain 
to  them  our  plan  of  colonisation. 

The  families  were  classed  among  the 
"  worthy  poor,"  and  were  of  all  races  and 
religions.  Some  of  them  had  at  their  head 
a  man,  —  a  husband,  or  brother,  or  grown- 
up son ;  and  in  some  a  woman  —  a  mother, 

116 


FROM    HEDGES    AND    BY-WAYS.  117 

or  grown-up  sister  or  daughter — was  the 
leader.  Doctor  Barton  and  I  had  agreed 
that  not  every  family  in  our  colony  need 
have  a  man  at  the  head;  for  the  carrying 
on  of  some  kinds  of  farm  work,  —  as,  for 
instance,  poultry,  bees,  flowers,  and  other 
kinds,  —  a  strong,  industrious  woman  could 
do  quite  as  efficient  work  as  could  a  man. 

So  the  people  came  together,  about  thirty 
men  and  eiorht  or  ten  women.  I  called 
them  to  meet  in  our  church  vestry,  with- 
out explaining  the  purpose  of  the  meeting. 
Evidently  some  of  them  had  anticipations 
of  a  free  distribution  of  food,  or  clothing, 
or  something  of  that  kind;  for  as  I  opened 
up  the  plan  of  the  colony,  warmly  as  I  pic- 
tured the  benefits  of  such  a  life,  I  became 
aware  that  several  faces  were  exhibiting 
disappointment,  and  even  contempt.  I  told 
them  about  the  joys  of  rural  life,  and 
painted,  as  eloquently  as  I  could,  the  happi- 
ness of  living  in  a  little  house  of  one's 
own,  with  good  air  and  wholesome  country 
fare. 


118  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

After  I  had  explained  the  plan  fully, 
I  waited  and  asked  for  questions,  but  none 
were  asked.  Finally  I  dismissed  the  meet- 
ing, for  I  saw  that  many  were  impatient 
to  be  gone ;  and  I  requested  any  who 
wished  to  talk  with  me  further  upon  the 
subject  to  remain. 

About  fifteen  remained,  and  of  these  only 
ten  were  very  promising  material  for  the 
life  of  such  a  colony  as  ours.  The  others 
were  too  old  or  too  infirm.  Most  of  those 
who  had  gone  out  were  young  people 
between  twenty-five  and  forty.  Evidently 
they  did  not  find  the  struggle  for  life 
quite  severe  enough  in  the  great  metropolis, 
to  make  them  eager  to  go  forth  into  the 
country. 

I  talked  nearly  an  hour  more,  with  those 
who  remained,  and  made  a  list  of  twelve 
families  who  promised  to  give  themselves 
heartily  to  the  life  of  the  colony. 

As  I  walked  homeward  I  was  somewhat 
disappointed  with  the  results  of  the  meeting. 
There  was  not  that  eagerness  to  receive  my 


FROM    HEDGES    AND    BY-WAYS.  119 

good  tidings  for  which  I  had  really  hoped, 
even  while  I  was  telling  myself  that  I 
expected  little.  As  I  entered  the  front  gate, 
a  rough-looking  man  was  beating  a  slow 
retreat  from  the  kitchen  door,  and  in  the 
doorway  I  saw  the  red  face  and  angry  eyes 
of  Bridget,  our  cook,  as  she  poured  out  her 
wrath  upon  the  unkempt  individual.  Just 
behind  her  florid  countenance  appeared  my 
wife,  and  I  might  have  been  alarmed  had  I 
not  seen  a  half-smile  on  my  wife's  face. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  I  asked,  as  I 
approached. 

Bridget  seemed  a  little  confused  at  being 
discovered  by  me  ( "  His  Biverence,"  she 
always  called  me ),  and  retreated  to  her  pots 
and  pans.  Margaret  led  the  way  into  the 
study,  and  then  burst  out  laughing. 

"  It's  no  use  !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  You  and 
I  think  we  can  read  human  character,  and 
can  get  into  touch  with  all  classes  of  people ; 
but  the  fact  is,  we  don't  make  half  the 
success  of  it  we  fancy  we  do." 

She    sat  down  in  a  chair  and  continued, 


120  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

"  Now,  I  thought  that  man  was  a  fairly  prom- 
ising specimen  for  aid,  when  he  came  to  the 
front  door.  He  told  a  very  smooth  story, 
and  asked  for  work,  as  they  always  do,  to 
avoid  arrest  for  vagrancy.  I  had  no  work 
for  him,  as  he  probably  took  precious  good 
care  to  know,  and  I  sent  him  around  to  the 
kitchen  door,  intending  to  talk  further  with 
him,  and  perhaps  do  something  for  him." 

"  You  know  the  danger  of  dealing  with 
such  characters,"  I  said,  "  and  you  know,  as 
well  as  I  do,  how  the  army  of  tramps  in  this 
country  is  increasing  annually." 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes ! "  retorted  my  wife,  point- 
ing her  finger  at  me  in  amused  scorn.  "We 
both  know  all  that,  but  each  new  case  seems 
to  me  a  possible  exception ;  and  you  know, 
Walter,  you  are  just  as  weak  and  yielding 
as  I  am.  So  don't  look  so  much  like  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  in  full  session ! 
However,  I  sent  the  man  to  the  side  door, 
and  there  he  met  Bridget." 

"What  then?" 

"  Well,  the   minute  she  fastened  her   eye 


FROM    HEDGES    AND    BY-WAYS.  121 

on  him  she  looked  straight  through  him,  and 
he  knew  it.  I  stood  back  in  the  dining-room, 
with  the  door  ajar,  and  heard  the  talk.  She 
opened  fire  on  him  at  once.  You  know  how 
shrewd  she  is  in  many  kinds  of  situations. 
So  the  brogue  was  rich,  as  you  can  fancy. 
She  told  him  to  go  to  work  and  earn  his 
food,  as  she  had  to.  And  she  laid  bare  his 
character  in  such  a  brief  series  of  terse 
statements,  that  the  man  wilted,  and,  for 
several  minutes,  said  not  a  word.  The 
change  in  him  was  almost  as  marked  as  in 
the  rapid  transitions  of  the  play  of  ( Doctor 
Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde ; '  and,  what  surprised 
me  even  more,  I  confess,  was,  that  when 
he  did  mumble  a  few  words  of  protest,  he 
spoke  in  an  entirely  different  way  from 
what  he  had  spoken  to  me." 

My  good  wife  and  I  laughed  considerably 
over  this  drama  of  the  kitchen,  and  presently 
turned  away  to  our  various  duties ;  but  the 
lesson  to  be  learned  from  this  incident  did 
not  escape  me,  and  it  later  served  me  to 
very  good  purpose.     I  saw,  though  I  hardly 


122  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

like  to  confess  it  (and  few  people  of  the 
so-called  "  better  classes "  like  to),  that  my 
wife  and  I  could  not  deal  as  effectively 
with  the  members  of  the  so-called  "  lower 
classes,"  as  could  a  person  more  nearly  of 
their  level.  I  saw  that  Bridget  could  come 
closer  to  that  tramp,  could  understand  him 
better,  and  make  him  understand  her  better 
than  could  I.  She  could  penetrate  his  dis- 
guises, both  conscious  and  unconscious,  as 
Margaret  and  I  could  never  do  it.  When 
in  our  presence,  he  instinctively  adapted 
himself,  shielded  himself,  and  we  could  not 
possibly  see  him  as  could  another  of  his  class. 
It  was  only  another  confirming  experience 
out  of  the  many  I  had  passed  through,  but 
it  came  just  at  a  time  when  I  was  ready 
to  learn  its  lesson.  I  had  been  present  at 
interviews  where  a  rich,  educated  woman 
sat  down  in  a  tenement  room,  to  draw  out 
and  examine  and  pass  judgment  upon  some 
"case,"  some  woman  in  squalor,  with  a  brood 
of  dirty  children  standing  around ;  and, 
always,    the    "  case "    sifted    and    read    and 


FKOM    HEDGES    AND    BY-WAYS.  123 

judged  the  examiner,  quite  as  skilfully  as 
she  was  herself  sifted  and  judged.  These 
incidents  I  had  seen,  and  had  hoped  that  I 
was  myself  more  penetrating  and  more  sym- 
pathetic. I  had  nattered  myself  that  I  was, 
but  I  began,  now,  to  suspect  myself.  And 
the  experience  which  came  to  me  a  few 
weeks  later  confirmed  my  suspicions. 

It  was  when  I  went  to  one  of  the  sweat- 
shop addresses,  given  me  by  the  secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Health,  and  there,  with 
the  permission  of  the  proprietor,  took  ten 
minutes,  at  noon,  to  explain  our  scheme 
of  Circle  City.  I  had  walked  about  through 
the  two  large  rooms,  during  a  brief  hour 
previous,  talking  with  several  of  the  dirty, 
despondent-looking  workers,  men  and  women. 
They  seemed  to  despair  of  everything.  They 
bent  over  their  work  —  which  was  coat 
making  —  with  a  sullen  desperation,  and 
their  thin,  dirty  fingers  flew  like  the  blood- 
less levers  of  a  machine.  I  went  about  and 
asked  questions,  in  a  friendly  manner,  gain- 
ing,   in    some    degree,    as    I    fancied,   their 


124  BACK   TO    TIIE    SOIL. 

sympathy.  But  the  moment  I  began  to 
address  them  in  a  body,  and  unfold  my 
plan  of  the  colony,  and  picture  the  com- 
forts and  joys  of  country  life,  their  faces 
took  on  a  suspicious  expression,  some  of 
them  put  their  tongues  in  their  cheeks,  and 
sundry  knowing  winks  passed  from  eye  to 
eye. 

I  need  not  say  that  I  was  surprised,  dis- 
mayed. I  found  myself,  my  heart  overflow- 
ing with  good-will  to  them,  an  object  of 
distrust.  The  truth  was,  and  I  saw  it 
quickly,  they  had  been  so  long  the  victims 
of  oppression  and  evil  designs,  that  they 
had  grown  to  disbelieve  utterly  in  any  fair 
promises  whatsoever. 

I  went  through  the  form  of  inviting  any 
who  wished  to  talk  with  me  more  fully,  or 
any  who  were  already  desirous  of  becoming 
members  of  such  a  colony,  to  meet  me,  at  my 
home,  that  evening. 

My  words  were  wasted.  Not  a  person 
appeared.  My  appeal  was  in  vain.  My 
kindly  offers  of  help  were  rejected. 


FROM    HEDGES    AtfD    BY -WATS.  125 

Much  the  same  kind  of  experience  I  went 
through,  when  I  visited  the  X — Y  Paper 
Mills,  and  there  repeated  my  explanation  of 
our  scheme,  and  gave  my  invitation.  A  half- 
dozen  men  stayed,  after  hours,  to  talk  with 
me.  Out  of  that  number  only  four  actually 
came  into  our  ranks ;  and  afterward  formed 
a  substantial  part  of  our  organisation. 

I  began  to  grow  discouraged.  I  had  antici- 
pated difficulties  (or,  at  least,  had  said  to 
others,  and  to  myself,  that  I  did),  but  the 
difficulties  began  to  seem  insuperable. 

Then  came  to  my  mind  the  full  meaning 
of  my  lesson  at  Bridget's  hands ;  I  had  talked 
freely  with  Margaret  and  Doctor  Barton, 
about  my  difficulties,  and  one  evening,  as  I 
happened  to  recollect  and  narrate  for  the 
doctor  the  incident  at  the  kitchen  door,  the 
idea  seized  me  that  Bridget  might  succeed  in 
doing  what  I  could  not.  She  might  be  able 
to  get  hold  of  those  people,  as  I  could  not 
hope  to  do. 

Thereupon  we  talked  the  idea  over;  and 
the  result  was  that  Doctor  Barton  was  to  see 


126  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

Colonel  Royce's  coachman,  who  was  Bridget's 
admirer,  if  not  lover,  and  Margaret  and  I 
were  to  interest  Bridget  herself.  We  agreed 
that  in  those  two  we  had  interpreters  who 
could  bring  our  plan  more  clearly  and  poAver- 
fully  to  the  attention  of  the  people  we  wished 
to  reach. 

The  suggestion  was  a  good  one.  Patrick, 
the  coachman,  and  Bridget  had  both  worked 
in  their  respective  places  several  3'ears,  and 
had  come  to  fully  trust  their  employers.  We 
therefore  set  about  explaining  our  entire 
colonisation  scheme  to  them.  Colonel  Royce 
acted  as  instructor  for  Patrick,  and  Margaret 
and  I  tutored  Bridget.  At  first  the  dear  soul 
got  the  idea  that  we  wished  her  to  go  out 
into  the  colony,  herself,  and  that  brought 
about  considerable  misunderstanding;  but,  as 
soon  as  the  matter  was  cleared  up,  she  showed 
great  interest,  and  even  grew  enthusiastic, 
and  suggested  two  of  her  relatives  as  candi- 
dates for  the  colony,  and  recalled  three 
more  relatives,  still  in  Ireland,  also  desirable 
colonists. 


FROM    IIEDGES    AND    BY-WAYS.  127 

Colonel  Royce  never  did  things  by  halves, 
and  he  suggested  sending  Patrick  and  Bridget 
out  for  a  day's  visit  to  Circle  City,  to  see  for 
themselves  what  our  plan  really  was. 

The  heavy  snows,  at  that  particular  time, 
made  the  journey  somewhat  difficult,  but  the 
growing  interest  between  the  two  made 
them  not  wholly  averse  to  having  the  trip  a 
long  one,  and  a  fine  happy  pair  they  were, 
as  they  started  on  their  peculiar  holiday. 
They  reached  Circle  City  without  accident, 
and  spent  several  hours  there,  strolling  about, 
using  their  time  as  they  wished,  eating  their 
lunch  in  one  of  the  partly  finished  houses, 
and  talking  with  the  workmen,  as  oppor- 
tunity and  inclination  offered. 

The  purpose  with  which  they  were  sent 
out  was  accomplished.  They  saw,  with 
their  own  eyes,  what  was  projected  in  the 
way  of  a  colony.  Each  looked  at  it  from 
his  or  her  point  of  view.  Patrick  got  an 
idea  of  the  "general  lay  of  the  land,"  the 
grouping  of  the  houses,  and  the  economic 
side   of    the   plan  ;    and   Bridget   took   note 


128  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

of  the  houses  and  their  possibilities  for 
comfort. 

So  they  came  back  much  pleased  with 
their  outing,  and  quite  confident  about  the 
future  of  the  colony.  Lucky  it  was,  for  the 
success  of  our  plan,  that  they  did ;  because  I 
may  as  well  confess  that  I  was  about  given 
over  to  despair,  regarding  my  own  powers 
as  a  propagandist. 

Colonel  Royce  arranged  to  give  Patrick  all 
the  leave  of  absence  he  wished,  and  we  got 
in  a  spare  cook,  to  relieve  Bridget,  so  that 
these  two  newly  enlisted  allies  at  once  set 
about  gaining  colonists  in  their  own  way. 
Patrick's  method  was  to  frequent  the  trades 
unions,  and  workingmen's  clubs,  and  there 
make  friends  with  as  many  men  as  possible, 
talking  especially  with  such  as  seemed 
despondent  or  discouraged.  Our  general 
instruction  to  him  was  to  accept  any  who 
really  desired  to  enter  the  colony,  if  they 
seemed  to  be  acting  in  good  faith.  We 
imposed  no  conditions  as  to  skill ;  and,  with 
regard   to   health,   we   tried  to   discriminate 


FEOM    HEDGES    AND    BY-WAYS.  129 

against  dangerous  epidemic  diseases,  but  did 
not  wish  him  to  refuse  a  group  or  family, 
even  if  it  contained  a  small  proportion  of 
helpless  members ;  for  we  counted  on  finding 
new  kinds  of  work  for  many  persons  who 
now  seemed  incapable. 

However,  I  quite  agreed  with  Colonel 
Royce's  idea  that  at  first  the  larger  part  of 
the  colonists  would  best  be  above  thirty  years 
of  age';  for  we  believed  that  people  under  that 
age  would  probably  be  too  restless,  and  too 
confident  of  their  own  untested  powers,  or 
else,  if  quiet  and  unambitious,  they  would 
very  likely  be  seriously  lacking  in  capacity 
and  energy. 

Bridget  carried  on  her  missionary  work 
through  the  missions  and  intelligence  offices, 
and  even  boldly  invaded  tenement-houses  and 
the  sweat-shops. 

Our  method  proved  to  be  a  sound  one. 
Patrick  and  Bridget  could  talk  to  the  class  of 
people  whom  we  aimed  to  reach,  in  a  way 
which  no  member  of  the  syndicate,  however 
kind-hearted,   however   shrewd    in    business, 


130  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

could  hope  to  rival.  Colonel  Royce,  Doctor 
Barton,  Margaret,  and  I  held  ourselves  ready 
to  confer  with  our  zealous  deputies  whenever 
they  wished  to  bring  some  timid,  doubting 
individual  to  us  for  confirmation  of  their 
arguments  or  promises.  They  were  instructed 
that  each  family  was  to  be  made  up  of  not  less 
than  three,  and  not  more  than  ten  persons. 

The  cost  of  transportation,  and  the  living 
expenses  for  one  year,  were  to  be  borne  by 
the  syndicate ;  but  the  syndicate  reserved  to 
itself  the  right  to  terminate  its  relations  with 
any  family,  at  its  own  discretion,  agreeing  to 
replace  its  members  in  their  former  condition 
of  life  if  dismissed  from  this.  Moreover,  the 
amount  of  furniture  and  household  goods 
which  each  family  might  wish  to  bring  was 
limited  to  a  few  simple  articles,  for  cleanli- 
ness must  be  vigorously  insisted  upon  from 
the  first. 

There  were  many  interesting  and  even 
amusing  incidents  brought  to  our  notice  dur- 
ing the  next  few  months,  but  these  I  pass 
over  without  delay.     Suffice  it  to  say  that  by 


FROM    HEDGES    AND    BY  -  WATS.  131 

the  end  of  March,  as  the  houses  began  to  be 
finished  off,  and  work  on  the  water  system 
and  sewage  system  began,  one  hundred  fami- 
lies were  ready.  A  hundred  and  five  families 
were  enrolled,  allowing  for  defections  and 
desertions  at  the  last  hour. 

Besides  this  mere  enrolment  of  these  hun- 
dred and  more  families,  Patrick  and  Bridget 
had  made  a  careful  canvass  of  the  various 
preferences  of  their  colonists  for  the  several 
kinds  of  farm  labour  possible  in  our  little 
community.  Each  family,  and  each  member 
of  the  family,  had  been  registered  in  a  book, 
and  full  descriptions  of  characters  and  capac- 
ities had  been  noted,  so  that  when,  after 
the  eventful,  exciting,  fatiguing,  but  delight- 
ful week  of  transportation  was  over,  and  our 
families  (now  comprising  ninety-five)  were 
actually  settled  in  their  new  homes,  we  had 
them  placed  with  considerable  accuracy  in 
reference  to  the  kind  of  work  for  which  they 
were  inclined,  and  the  kind  of  farm  adapted 
to  that  work. 

Of  course  there  were  many  matters  of  de- 


132  BACK  TO   THE   SOIL. 

tail  which  came  up  in  the  process  of  settling 
our  colonists  which  could  not  easily  have 
been  foreseen,  although  there  were  a  dozen 
of  us,  aggregating  considerable  brain  power, 
with  our  minds  considerably  bent  upon  work- 
ing out  our  problem  in  all  its  minutiae.  For 
example,  we  now  saw  that  there  would  be 
need  of  several  intelligent,  experienced  men, 
to  act  as  teachers,  or  overseers ;  men  who 
could  live  in  the  colony  and  direct  the  practi- 
cal work.  Accordingly,  Doctor  Barton  ap- 
plied to  his  cousin,  Mr.  Gleason,  and,  through 
his  inquiries  and  judgment,  the  men  were 
found.  These  men  we  first  called  "  over- 
seers," but  later  we  preferred  to  call  them 
"  directors." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AB    UKBE    CONDITA. 

I  CONFESS  that  the  faces  of  the  new 
colonists  were  not  all  of  them  prepos- 
sessing. Even  Doctor  Barton,  who  had  sub- 
jected them  to  physical  examination,  felt 
grave  doubt  about  several  persons.  Still,  we 
trusted  a  good  deal  to  the  shrewd  sense  of 
Patrick  and  Bridget,  and  we  knew  that  each 
person  on  the  list  had  been  separately  and 
carefully  considered.  Doctor  Barton  guaran- 
teed their  freedom  from  contagious  diseases, 
and  Patrick  and  Bridget  were  sponsors  for 
their  mental  equipment.  We  had  several 
who  were  partial  invalids,  but  they  could 
render  some  service  in  the  household  or 
neighbourhood,  often  as  caretakers  of  chil- 
dren, while  more  robust  mothers  and  sisters 
were  doing  more  vigorous  work.     As  to  the 

133 


134  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

mental  standards,  we  told  our  agents,  Patrick 
and  Bridget,  that  we  wanted  only  good 
common  sense,  and  I  shall  not  forget  the 
humourous  twinkle  in  shrewd  Patrick's  eye 
as  he  touched  his  hat,  to  soften  his  repartee 
(as  was  his  wont),  and  replied :  "  Sure,  sir, 
it's  a  high  standard,  that.  Where  will  you 
find  rale  sound  common  sinse,  now  ?  Among 
rich  or  poor  ?  " 

"  In  all  of  us,  a  part  of  the  time,"  replied 
Colonel  Royce,  laughing,  "and  in  none  of 
us  all  the  time." 

We  did  not  draw  so  rigid  a  line,  morally, 
as  might  have  been  expected.  Of  course  we 
would  not  consider  for  a  moment  any  of 
the  class  of  confirmed  criminals ;  but  my 
experience  had  shown  me  that  many  a  man 
or  woman  comes  out  of  prison,  after  a  first 
term,  who  is  desirous  and  eager  to  live  an 
upright  life.  So  I  was  not  displeased  when 
Patrick  whispered  to  me  that  he  knew 
about  three  of  the  men,  and  knew  that  they 
had  served  short  terms  in  the  penitentiary ; 
but   after  careful    inquiry  he  was  convinced 


AB    URBE    CONDITA.  135 

that  they  were  capable  of  complete  reform, 
if  given  a  chance.  We  afterward  did  have 
some  trouble  about  a  number  of  petty  thefts, 
but  the  offender  was  not  one  of  these  three 
men. 

There  were  several  nationalities  repre- 
sented in  our  colony.  We  had  two  or  three 
families  of  Americans,  who  had  formerly 
lived  on  farms,  but  had  ventured  to  the 
city,  and  could  not  keep  their  standing 
there.  These  people  were  of  considerable 
assistance  in  the  very  serious  work  of  train- 
ing the  inexperienced  members  of  the  colony. 
There  were  a  few  English  families  also, 
and  a  great  many  Irish  families.  Then 
there  was  a  sprinkling  of  Germans,  Italians, 
and  Poles.  Also  two  French  families,  who 
afterward  proved  excellent  examples  of  thrift, 
and  were  hard  workers. 

It  was  a  tremendous  piece  of  work,  the 
transporting  of  the  colonists  to  Circle  City. 
Only  the  trained  executive  power  of  Colonel 
Royce  could  have  done  it.  The  journey  was 
made  by  train  to  the  nearest  point,  common 


136  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

freight-cars  being  used  for  all,  and  Mr.  Glea- 
son  levied  demands  on  all  the  carts  and 
wagons  of  three  towns  to  carry  the  colonists 
and  their  meagre  personal  property  across 
to  their  new  homes.  There  was  a  good  deal 
of  confusion,  and  I  several  times  wished 
that  we  had  made  the  transfer  in  two  or 
three  divisions ;  but  calculations  had  been 
carefully  made,  and  numbers  assigned  to 
each  family,  so  that  order  soon  evolved  out 
of  the  seemingly  hopeless  chaos. 

We  found  Mr.  Gleason,  the  country  store- 
keeper, a  shrewd,  active  man,  and  he  proved 
of  great  assistance  to  us  in  several  ways. 
He  was  fast  becoming  as  interested  in  the 
new  colony  as  were  we  of  the  syndicate ; 
and  he  found  time  to  drive  over  frequently 
to  see  how  affairs  were  going.  He  was  the 
originator  of  our  plan  for  a  department 
store.  He  quickly  saw  that  we  needed  only 
one  store,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  much  like 
his  own  country  store ;  if  we  chose  to  call 
it  a  "  department  store,"  he  had  no  objection; 
but    the    essential    point  was,  he  said,    that 


AB    URBE    CONDITA.  137 

it  should  have  every  kind  of  "  goods  and 
notions "  that  might  be  needed  in  the 
colony. 

That  had  led  to  the  erection  of  another 
public  building  in  the  circular  space  at  the 
centre  of  our  colony,  and  Mr.  Gleason  took 
charge  of  the  store,  sending  over  two  experi- 
enced men  and  one  woman  ( husband  and  wife 
and  wife's  brother),  who  were  already  well 
settled  in  the  new  store.  The  building  was 
two  stories  and  a  half  high,  and  the  second 
and  third  floors  contained  rooms  for  the 
boarding  and  lodging  of  these  three  people 
and  the  "  directors." 

It  was  fortunate  for  us  that  the  spring 
opened  early,  because  we  were  thereby  helped 
greatly  in  our  excavating  for  the  water- 
supply  and  the  sewage  system.  Then,  too, 
the  weather  was  favourable  for  work  upon 
our  line  of  electric  railway,  which  was  making 
rapid  progress.  Two  members  of  our  syndi- 
cate were  heavy  stockholders  in  the  railway 
company,  and,  through  their  efforts,  the  com- 
pany   decided    to   lay   a    double   track    line 


138  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

out  to  our  colony.  Work  had  been  begun 
at  both  ends  of  the  line,  and  at  two  inter- 
mediate points,  and  only  a  few  weeks  would 
be  needed  to  have  the  road  ready  for  opera- 
tion. Colonel  Royce  had  already  given  an 
order  to  the  Empire  Car  Company  for  two 
freight-cars,  designed  in  part  by  himself, 
which  would  be  run  to  and  fro,  between 
our  colony  and  the  city,  and  carry  the 
colony's  products  to  market.  It  was  the 
purpose  of  the  syndicate  to  establish  a  store 
or  market  in  the  city,  and  to  sell  there  as 
many  as  possible  of  the  products  of  the 
colony.  Moreover,  it  was  hoped  that,  with 
a  specific  trade-mark,  put  upon  all  such 
products,  and  with  the  maintenance  of  a 
high  standard  of  value,  the  best  kind  of 
public  patronage  would  be  secured. 

The  assistance  of  Professor  Waters,  of  the 
State  Agricultural  College,  was  very  impor- 
tant to  us  in  the  assignment  of  the  families 
to  their  respective  farms.  Professor  Waters 
had  previously  given  some  little  time  to  the 
study  of  the  ground,  and,  with  our  surveyors, 


AB    URBE    CONDITA.  139 

had  laid  out  the  farms  in  what  proved  to 
be  a  very  wise  way.  Many  of  the  families 
had  decided  preferences  as  to  what  kind  of 
farming  they  would  take  up.  Others  had 
no  choice.  Often  Professor  Waters  was  able 
to  correct  the  judgment  and  choice  of  the 
families,  by  taking  into  account  the  sex  and 
age  of  the  members  of  a  family,  pointing 
out  to  them  how  one  line  of  work  would 
be  best  for  a  family  containing  two  or  three 
men,  while  a  different  kind  would  be  better 
for  a  family  containing  several  young  girls. 
For  example,  in  the  raising  of  poultry  or 
eggs,  women  could  work  as  efficiently  as 
could  men ;  whereas,  in  the  heavier  kinds 
of  farming,  market-gardening,  hay  farming, 
stock-raising,  and  the  like,  greater  strength 
would  be  demanded  of  the  workers,  and 
would  best  suit  families  where  there  were 
several  males. 

The  financial  part  of  the  plan  had  been 
put,  largely,  into  Colonel  Royce's  hands ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  adoption  of  a  wise  system 
of  loans  and  expenditures.     At  the  occasional 


140  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

sessions  of  the  syndicate,  this  matter  had 
been  more  or  less  discussed,  but,  practically, 
it  was  mainly  left  in  Colonel  Royce's  hands. 
His  theory,  as  we  talked  it  over,  was  that 
the  colony  must  commence  as  a  strongly 
marked  system  of  paternalism,  and  must  aim 
at  working,  as  rapidly  as  was  safe,  toward 
individualism.  He  began  by  loaning  houses, 
tools,  food,  and  even  clothing  to  the  families, 
keeping  a  close  account  of  every  loan,  how- 
ever small.  All  that  he  asked  of  the  colo- 
nists was  good  faith  and  hard  work  and 
average  intelligence.  From  some  kinds  of 
work,  payments  on  these  loans  could  begin 
in  a  few  months ;  but,  by  the  end  of  the 
year,  every  family  ought  to  be  able  to  make 
them,  in  larger  or  smaller  sums.  Whenever 
families,  or  individuals,  showed  hopeless  in- 
competence or  indolence,  these  were  to  be 
sent  back  to  their  squalid  city  life ;  but  a  full, 
fair  trial  would  be  given  everybody.  When 
a  family  had  repaid  all  loans  made  it  for 
tools,  groceries,  stock,  seed,  and  the  like,  it 
could  then  begin  paying    rent  for  its  home. 


AB    URBE    CONDITA.  141 

The  wish  on  the  part  of  our  syndicate  was 
that  this  should  be  done  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible. Just  here,  we  met  a  difficulty  which 
had  caused  considerable  discussion  among  us. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  seemed  desirable  to 
make  these  people,  as  soon  as  they  proved 
themselves  worthy  of  it,  as  independent  and 
individual  as  possible.  We  were  not  believers 
in  Socialism,  and  we  had  seen  the  dangers  of 
excessive  permanent  paternalism.  Yet,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  hardly  cared  to  put  the 
fate  of  our  colony  into  these  people's  hands, 
entirely;  we  therefore  decided  to  keep  the 
ultimate  control  of  land  and  houses  in  the 
hands  of  the  syndicate,  at  least  for  several 
years.  In  all  possible  ways  the  plan  was  to 
push  our  people  on  to  the  same  kind  and 
degree  of  independence,  which  would  be  exer- 
cised by  them  if  they  rented  a  farm  in  any 
town  in  the  State. 

Closely  allied  to  this  problem  of  final,  com- 
plete ownership,  was  the  problem  of  citizen- 
ship. We  had  given  considerable  time  to  this 
subject,   and  had   debated   rather   hotly  the 


142  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

expediency  of  forming  a  separate  township ; 
but,  on  reflection,  it  was  deemed  best  to  avoid, 
in  every  way,  all  appearances  of  peculiarity, 
and  all  tendencies  toward  isolation ;  and  our 
voters  were  instructed  to  consider  themselves 
residents  of  the  town  where  their  homes 
placed  them.  This  solution  of  the  problem 
was  helped  by  the  fact  that  a  town  line  ran 
through  one  side  of  our  little  community, 
thus  making  two-thirds  of  our  people  resi- 
dents of  Somerset,  and  the  other  third  of 
Monterey. 

Although  we  all  regarded  Socialism,  or 
Communism,  as  the  greatest  defect  of  coloni- 
sation schemes  in  the  past,  and  as  the  rock 
on  which  many  well-intentioned  plans  had 
split,  yet  we  found  that  simple  economy  de- 
manded some  kinds  of  united  action,  and 
allowed  some  kinds  of  mutual  interdepend- 
ence. In  our  farm  work,  in  the  use  of  the 
larger  kinds  of  tools  and  machines,  this  was 
wisely  arranged  by  our  farm  directors,  who 
were  themselves  practical  farmers.  They 
speedily  learned   how  to  combine  labour  in 


AB    URBE   CONDITA.  143 

small  groups,  and  showed  the  colonists  how 
to  aid  one  another  in  certain  kinds  of  work. 

But  in  other  ways,  also,  we  found  union  of 
effort  possible.  For  example,  there  was  our 
hospital.  It  was  simply  a  group  of  six 
rooms  in  a  small  building  set  apart  for  this 
purpose.  Everybody  in  the  colony,  old  and 
young,  was  urged  to  visit  it,  as  it  stood,  new 
and  clean,  awaiting  occupancy.  It  was  care- 
fully explained  to  all  these  visitors,  with  a 
view  of  doing  away  with  that  ignorant  dread 
which  most  of  the  lower  classes  feel  for  all 
public  institutions  of  this  kind.  The  half- 
score  beds  were  tidy  and  attractive,  and 
there  was  no  ill  odour  of  ether  or  iodoform  to 
awaken  distrust.  The  advantages  of  such  a 
place  were  put  before  them  as  clearly  as  pos- 
sible, but  the  main  object  in  showing  them 
the  place  was  that  they  should  be  familiar 
with  it ;  that  no  malign  air  of  mystery  should 
enshroud  it,  and  that  they  might  have  some 
pleasant  impressions  of  it. 

I  fear  that  Doctor  Barton's  practice  and 
my  own  professional  duties  suffered  consider- 


144  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

ably  during  the  first  few  weeks  of  the  little 
colony's  existence,  for  one  or  the  other  of  us 
was  on  the  ground  the  greater  part  of  the 
time.  The  lesson  which  I  had  learned,  about 
using  Patrick  and  Bridget  as  intermediaries,  I 
did  not  forget ;  and  although  I  felt  that  my 
relations  with  these  various  families  grew 
more  intimate  as  the  weeks  went  by,  }^et  I 
could  usually  detect  a  difference  in  the  atti- 
tude toward  me  from  that  toward  Patrick  or 
Bridget.  And,  just  here  in  my  record  of  the 
life  of  Circle  City,  I  must  chronicle  the  unex- 
pected turn  in  affairs  by  which  we  lost  a 
helper  in  our  household  and  gained  a  valu- 
able colonist. 

Patrick  and  Bridget  had  been  much  thrown 
together  by  the  events  of  the  past  winter; 
they  had  found  occasion  for  many  interviews; 
just  how  closely  their  conversation  was  con- 
fined to  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  and  the 
gathering  of  suitable  families,  I  cannot  say, 
but  the  plain  fact  was  that  they  grew  much 
attached  to  each  other,  as  well  as  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  colony  plan ;  and  the  result 


AB   UKBE    COSTDITA.  145 

was  that,  when  the  families  were  finally  trans- 
ferred to  the  country,  these  two  sympathetic 
workers  found  their  occupation  gone ;  and 
their  lives  suddenly  became  dull  and  uninter- 
esting. Margaret  and  I  were  not  wholly 
ignorant  of  the  growing  attachment  between 
the  two,  and  were  inclined  to  favour  it.  So 
that  when  Bridget  came  to  my  wife  one  day, 
and  stood  blushing  and  stammering,  and 
twisting  the  corner  of  her  apron,  Margaret 
knew  what  was  coming.  Yes,  Patrick  and 
Bridget  were  to  be  married.  Well,  that  was 
not  startling ;  but  we  were  a  little  startled, 
and  then  increasingly  delighted,  when  we 
heard  that  they  would  like  to  join  the  col- 
ony. Their  interest  had  been  very  warmly 
enlisted  in  the  work,  and  they  believed 
heartily  in  it. 

When  Colonel  Royce  and  I  talked  it  over, 
we  could  both  commiserate  each  other,  and 
yet  congratulate  each  other.  Each  of  us  had 
lost  a  valued  helper,  but  we  knew  that  the 
presence  of  Patrick  and  Bridget  in  the  colony 
would  be  extremely  valuable  in  the  settling 


146  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

of  the  many  difficulties  which  must  inevitably 
arise. 

And  so  it  proved.  A  month  later  they 
were  married,  and  they  went  at  once  to 
Circle  City.  Colonel  Royce  put  them  at  once 
in  charge  of  the  "  Boarding  House/'  as  we 
grew  to  call  it,  the  family  apartments  over 
the  store ;  and  they  filled  the  position  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  everybody.  We  gave 
Bridget  a  young  girl  to  assist  her,  intending 
this  arrangement  for  Bridget's  benefit ;  but 
Bridget  was  a  woman  of  ideas,  and,  in  due 
time,  developed  a  plan  of  her  own.  She  soon 
saw  that  many  of  our  families  knew  very 
little  about  clean,  economic  homes,  and  she 
started  a  kind  of  school  in  housekeeping.  She 
took  from  them  three  young  girls  at  a  time, 
and  kept  them  with  her  a  few  months,  show- 
ing them  as  much  as  possible  about  the  best 
ways  of  cooking  and  washing  and  Ccaring  for 
a  household.  This  plan  led,  rather  naturally, 
to  the  starting  of  some  more  public  lessons  in 
cookery ;  and,  with  a  range  set  up  in  one  of 
the  rooms  of  our  "  Town  Hall,"  as  we  called 


AB    URBE    eONDITA.  147 

it,  Bridget  gave  needed  instruction  to  a  large 
number  of  the  women  of  the  colony. 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  the  various 
modern  inventions,  with  which  we  had 
equipped  the  houses,  Bridget  found  great 
diversities  of  skill  and  carefulness.  Very  few 
of  our  people  had  ever  seen,  close  at  hand, 
steam  and  electricity  used  as  they  could  now 
use  it  in  their  new  homes.  They  were 
delighted  with  the  radiators,  and  easily 
learned  to  use  them;  but  with  the  electric 
lights  there  was  some  timidity  and  some 
clumsiness ;  yet  in  the  main,  these  illiterate, 
untrained  colonists  did  remarkably  well.  As 
to  the  gas  cooking-stoves,  Bridget  had  more 
difficulty ;  but  her  steady,  patient,  persistent 
good  nature  triumphed.  She  is  an  unusually 
intelligent  woman,  and,  without  her,  the 
success  of  our  many  minor  plans  would  have 
been  very  doubtful.  Just  at  present  she  is 
thinking  out  a  scheme  for  a  laundry-house 
and  a  bakery  for  the  whole  colony  ;  I  have  no 
doubt  that  she  will  succeed  in  carrying  out 
her  ideas. 


148  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

As  for  Patrick,  he  was  worth  his  weight  in 
gold,  because  of  the  confidence  which  the  men 
of  the  colony  reposed  in  him,  and  the  wise 
counsel  he  gave  them.  He  knew  a  good  deal 
about  farm  work,  and  he  had  quick  sympathy 
and  rare  good  sense.  We  had  been  fortunate, 
too,  in  the  overseers,  or  directors  chosen  by 
Mr.  Gleason :  they  were  competent  men ;  but 
they  were  never  able  to  come  into  as  close 
touch  with  the  city-bred  colonists  as  was 
Patrick.  Two  or  three  times  I  happened 
along,  when  misunderstandings  had  arisen 
between  some  colonists  and  a  director,  and 
the  director  was  fast  losing  patience  with 
the  colonist's  stupidity  or  clumsiness.  And 
Patrick,  coming  up,  would  very  soon  quiet 
the  trouble,  and  solve  the  difficulty.  The 
directors  had  been  privately  and  separately 
instructed  to  allow  Patrick  to  have  his  way, 
in  all  such  cases.  This  was  not  always  easy 
for  them  to  do,  but  they  were  won  over 
by  results ;  and  Patrick,  on  his  part,  was 
privately  counselled  by  Colonel  Royce,  whom 
he  admired  profoundly,  not  to  show  any  over- 


AB    URBE   £ONDITA.  149 

bearing  spirit,  and  not  to  become  at  all  "  set 
up  "  by  his  position,  at  which  Patrick  laughed 
heartily,  and  touched  his  hat  to  his  old 
employer. 

From  the  first,  Doctor  Barton  and  I  had 
felt,  even  more  strongly  than   had    Colonel 
Royce  and  the  other  members  of  the  syndi- 
cate,   the     absolute     need    of     making     life 
interesting  for  the   colonists.     Colonel  Royce 
and  the  others  were  naturally  most  concerned 
with  the  financial  and  economic  features  of 
the  colony's  management ;  but  Doctor  Barton 
and  I  felt  strongly  the  contrast  between  the 
quiet  life  of  the  country,  and  the  feverish, 
stimulating  vibrations   of  city  life ;    and  we 
constantly    planned    to    meet    this    problem, 
realising   that   if   the  desire   for  amusement 
were  not  met,  in  our  colonists'  overstimulated 
natures,  they  would  soon  begin  to  long  for 
the  old  crowded  dens  and  alleys.     So  we  were 
glad  when  the  completion  of  our  trolley  line 
put   us  in  direct,   easy  communication  with 
the    great    metropolis,    fifteen    miles    away. 
Regular   fares  were   charged   on   these  cars, 


150  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

and  the  families  were  allowed  to  visit  the  city 
as  they  chose.  They  were  not  forbidden  or 
forced,  in  any  direction,  but  were  simply 
advised,  in  this  as  in  many  other  matters ; 
and,  through  Patrick  and  Bridget,  as  well  as 
by  the  regular  reports  of  the  directors  of 
work,  Colonel  Royce  and  I  kept  in  pretty 
close  touch  with  the  conduct  and  condition  of 
every  family. 

Fortunately,  one  of  the  storekeepers  was 
well  trained  in  vocal  music,  and  one  of  the 
directors  turned  out  to  be  a  skilful  player  on 
the  cornet.  As  soon  as  I  learned  these  facts, 
I  set  on  foot  plans  for  the  forming  of  a  sing- 
ing society  and  a  brass  band.  I  believed 
strongly  in  the  value  of  music,  as  the  most 
popular  of  the  arts.  Margaret  had  urged  the 
need  of  a  little  beauty  in  the  cottages,  and 
had  purchased,  with  good  taste,  enough 
photographs,  and  other  pictures  of  an  inex- 
pensive sort,  to  put  two  or  three  in  each 
home.  I  did  not  object,  of  course,  to  this, 
but  I  had  been  looking  to  music  as  the  most 
valuable  of  the  arts  for  our  purpose  of  enter- 


AB    URBE    CONDITA.  151 

tainment,  and  I  was  much  pleased  at  seeing 
the  singing  society  and  the  band  started. 
As  an  incentive  to  exertion,  we  occasionally 
hired  a  band  from  the  city  to  come  out  and 
give  an  evening  concert  at  the  band-stand 
in  the  centre  of  the  village.  This  was  much 
enjoyed,  and  while  the  children  gathered 
close  around  the  players,  the  older  people 
could  remain  in  their  own  houses  or  in  front 
of  them,  and  hear  the  music  with  great  dis- 
tinctness. 

Of  course  these  band  concerts  were  not  our 
only  entertainments.  Margaret  had  planned 
a  course  of  readings,  and  sleight-of-hand  per- 
formances, and  concerts,  even  before  the 
colony  was  settled ;  and  two  of  these  were 
given  each  week.  For  purposes  of  this  sort, 
we  had  one  large  central  hall ;  this  was  our 
largest  structure.  It  had  a  large  auditorium 
on  the  second  floor,  reaching  to  the  full 
length  and  breadth  of  the  house.  Then  on 
the  lower  floor  there  were  several  smaller 
halls,  useful  for  various  kinds  of  gatherings. 

We  had  many  applications  from   all  sorts 


152  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

of  lecturers  and  entertainment  bureaus,  ask- 
ing for  engagements.  One  of  the  first  letters 
that  came,  after  our  colonisation  scheme 
became  generally  known  through  the  press, 
was  a  request  from  a  temperance  lecturer, 
who  wished  to  give  a  free  lecture  on  the 
"Evils  of  Alcohol."  The  proposal  came 
first,  of  course,  into  Margaret's  hands,  as 
she  had  been  tacitly  understood  to  be  a 
committee  of  one  on  public  entertainments; 
but  as  there  was  a  great  deal  involved  in  a 
lecture  of  this  kind,  in  addition  to  the  lecture 
itself,  she  submitted  the  matter  to  the  syndi- 
cate, at  its  next  session. 

We  talked  over  the  problems  of  liquor- 
selling,  and  license,  and  prohibition.  The 
local  laws  of  the  two  townships  in  which 
our  colony  was  placed  were  for  license,  and 
left  us  quite  free  to  use  our  own  judgment 
as  to  methods  for  dealing  with  this  most 
difficult  problem.  Among  the  members  of 
our  syndicate  there  was  some  little  diversity 
of  opinion.  One  of  the  board  was  a  firm 
believer  in  prohibition.     Two  members  were 


AB    UKBE    CONDITA.  153 

in  the  habit  of  using  wine  at  their  own 
tables.  One  man  had  studied  the  Gottenbers- 
system  of  licensing,  and  thoroughly  believed 
in  it.  Thus  we  were  divided  in  our  views; 
however,  all  of  us  recognised  the  extreme 
seriousness  of  the  problem.  But  all  of  the 
men  were  sensible,  and  knew  how  to  take 
account  of  the  facts  of  human  nature,  and 
Doctor  Barton's  views  were  finally  adopted 
and  put  into  practice. 

His  views  were  that  alcoholic  liquors 
should  be  treated  as  medicines  and  not  as 
beverages ;  that  they  should  be  kept  for  sale 
in  the  drug  department  of  our  store,  and 
sold  exactly  as  other  goods  were  sold,  with- 
out any  apparent  restrictions.  Nevertheless, 
all  our  corps  of  officials  (storekeepers,  direct- 
ors, and  especially  Patrick  and  Bridget) 
were  privately  instructed  to  be  very  watch- 
ful as  to  the  purchase  and  use  of  these  things. 
Doctor  Barton  felt  that,  while  such  a  plan 
might  or  might  not  be  expedient  in  a  large 
city,  yet  in  our  small  community,  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  was  known  and  could 


154  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

be  watched  carefully,  and  the  abuse  of  our 
plan  could  soon  be  detected.  If  I  may  here 
anticipate  events  a  little,  I  will  say  that  in 
one  or  two  cases  there  came  to  be  evidence 
of  abuse  of  this  plan.  Doctor  Barton  had 
gotten  into  the  way  of  appointing  certain 
times  and  places  for  consultation ;  and  he 
discovered  that  two  of  our  colonists  bought 
a  little  whiskey,  instead  of  the  drug  he  had 
prescribed  for  them.  He  therefore  held  a 
plain  talk  with  them,  and  told  them  briefly 
that  such  conduct  would  not  be  tolerated, 
and  warned  them  never  to  attempt  it  again. 
This  attempted  deceit,  however,  did  not 
happen  until  several  months  after  the  plan 
had  been  put  into  operation. 

Closely  joined  to  this  problem  of  temper- 
ance was  the  problem  of  some  sort  of  a  club- 
room.  I  had  long  before  seen  that  much  of 
the  drinking  that  is  done,  is  not  so  much  from 
love  of  the  liquor,  as  from  social  pressure. 
Men  make  bar-rooms  into  club-rooms,  and, 
after  congregating  there,  one  treats  another, 
and  the  other  reciprocates,  until  much  money 


AB   URBE    CONDITA.  155 

is  spent,  and  intoxication  results.  So  we 
early  arranged  to  make  one  of  the  lower 
rooms  of  the  hall  ("  Barton  Hall,"  we  had 
named  it,  after  our  good  friend  the  doctor), 
into  a  club-room  and  reading-room.  And 
there  the  men  were  free  to  come  and  smoke, 
and  read  the  papers  and  magazines  which 
were  provided  for  them.  This  led  to  a  series 
of  smoke-talks,  given  by  Doctor  Barton,  my- 
self, Colonel  Koyce,  and  others,  and  a  kind 
of  debating  club  grew  up,  which  proved  an 
excellent  means  of  education. 

However,  this  word  "  education  "  leads  me 
to  explain  at  some  length  the  important  place 
which  this  matter  took  in  the  life  of  our 
colony. 


CHAPTER   Vn. 

EDUCATION SECULAR   AND    RELIGIOUS. 

I  HAD  felt  from  the  first  that  we  must  use 
the  greatest  wisdom  and  care  in  our  educa- 
tional work.  Although  the  people  who  made 
up  our  colony  were,  in  a  sense,  acknowledged 
failures,  unable  to  meet  the  exacting  demands 
of  city  life,  yet  my  study  of  the  laws  of 
heredity  led  me  to  know  that  their  children 
might  develop  capacities  far  in  advance  of 
the  parents.  We  therefore  felt  the  obliga- 
tion of  furnishing  good  instruction  for  them, 
so  that  any  latent  talent  which  they  might 
have  might  be  encouraged  and  developed. 

Our  schoolhouse  was  the  last  of  our  "  pub- 
lic buildings,"  as  we  called  them,  to  be 
finished.  But,  as  we  did  not  satisfy  our- 
selves at  once  regarding  teachers,  we  were 
not   greatly  disturbed   by   the   delay.      The 

156 


EDUCATION.  157 

teacher  whom  we  at  first  engaged  did  not 
prove  a  success.  She  was  well  trained  in  the 
simple  branches  of  knowledge  which  she  was 
expected  to  teach,  but  she  was  practically 
an  invalid,  and  unable  to  cope  with  the  bois- 
terous spirits  of  the  boys  and  girls.  We  had 
gathered  the  children  into  Barton  Hall  at 
first,  and  the  situation  made  the  teacher's 
duties  more  than  usually  burdensome.  Pat- 
rick acted  as  school  committee  and  truant 
officer  in  one ;  he  was  a  little  weak  himself 
in  reading  and  spelling,  but  had  a  natural 
aptitude  for  "figures,"  and  he  had  unbounded 
faith  in  book-education. 

The  teacher  struggled  along,  with  ill  suc- 
cess, for  three  weeks,  and  then  we  saw  that 
she  could  not  do  the  work.  So  Margaret  set 
about  finding  some  one  to  take  her  place. 
After  considerable  writing  of  letters,  and  one 
or  two  interviews,  we  decided  upon  a  Miss 
Emily  Vaughn,  and  subsequent  events  showed 
that  the  decision  was  most  fortunate.  Miss 
Vaughn  was  a  graduate  of  a  New  England 
college,  had  taught  in  the  public  schools  of 


158  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

one  of  our  large  cities,  and,  after  three  years' 
experience,  had  gone  enthusiastically  into  the 
life  of  a  college  settlement  in  New  York. 
There  she  remained  a  year,  and  would  have 
continued,  had  not  Margaret  learned  about 
her,  through  a  common  friend,  and  induced 
her  to  take  up  our  educational  work  in  Circle 
City.  The  character  of  this  work  attracted 
her.  She  had  studied  social  problems  deeply, 
and  had  thrown  herself  earnestly  into  the 
work  of  solving  them  ;  but  the  overwhelming 
odds  against  philanthropic  educational  work 
in  a  vast,  crowded  metropolis,  had  grown 
more  and  more  to  weigh  upon  her,  and  she 
was  becoming  hopeless  of  reaching  any  satis- 
factory results.  So  our  experiment  of  Circle 
City  and  improved  country  life  as  a  remedy 
for  debased  city  life,  all  this  attracted  her, 
and  the  result  was  that  we  secured  a  most 
valuable  worker.  She  brought  with  her  a 
young  friend,  a  girl  of  about  twenty,  and  we 
put  the  two  into  full  responsibility  for  the 
work. 

Miss  Vaughn  was  tall  and  dark,  rather  dig- 


EDUCATION.  159 

nified  in  movement,  with  penetrating  black 
eyes,  which  opened  slowly,  but  firmly.  The 
children  could  feel  her  presence,  even  before 
she  spoke.  Indeed,  she  spoke  little.  What- 
ever a  nod  or  raised  finger  could  do,  she  did 
in  that  quiet  way.  She  seemed  a  little  auto- 
cratic at  first ;  but,  as  her  work  went  on,  and 
she  showed  her  remarkable  executive  power, 
and  her  endless  resources,  we  gladly  gave 
over  to  her  the  entire  management  of  all  our 
educational  work.  Of  course  our  school 
equipment,  our  educational  "plant,"  could 
not  compare  with  the  equipment  of  the  best 
schools  and  academies  of  the  land ;  but,  after 
all,  everybody  who  has  had  experience  in 
educational  matters  knows  that  system  and 
method  and  mechanical  appliances  are  in- 
ferior to  the  inborn  genius  for  teaching  which 
certain  people  possess. 

This  inborn  aptitude,  made  up  of  quick 
sympathy  and  self-control,  was  characteristic 
of  Miss  Vaughn  in  a  high  degree;  and  as  I 
talked  with  her  from  time  to  time  about  our 
colony,  and  about  the  important  part  which 


160  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

school  life  must  play  in  it,  I  was  greatly 
pleased  at  the  quick,  intelligent  way  in  which 
she  grasped  my  ideas. 

Every  teacher  has  not  only  general  apti- 
tude for  study  of  any  and  all  sorts,  but  is 
sure  to  have  a  certain  special  aptitude  for  one 
kind  of  study,  or  one  class  of  studies.  For- 
tunate it  was  for  the  success  of  our  plan  that 
Miss  Vaughn  had  a  keen  love  for  the  sciences 
rather  than  for  history  or  mathematics  or 
any  other  department  of  education.  She  was 
well  equipped  in  all  these  other  fields,  but 
the  sciences,  based  on  observation  of  nature, 
were  her  greatest  enthusiasm. 

"The  fundamental  aim  of  the  public 
schools  of  our  nation,"  I  said  to  her,  "is 
to  make  good  citizens.  But  our  fundamental 
aim  is  a  stage  earlier  than  that,  yet  in  har- 
mony with  it ;  for  our  aim  is  to  make  these 
children  love  the  life  of  the  country.  We 
shall,  of  course,  teach  the  rudiments  of 
mathematics,  and  geography,  and  history, 
and  many  other  branches;  but,  primarily,  we 
must    make    these    children    enjoy  the    re- 


EDUCATION.  161 

sources  of  nature  around  them.  Their 
position  affords  them  advantages  for  the 
study  of  the  natural  sciences,  which  city 
life  does  not.  The  city  teacher,  if  she  wishes 
to  illustrate  her  instruction  in  geology,  or 
botany,  or  zoology,  or  ornithology,  or  ento- 
mology, must  send  out  into  the  country  for 
specimens.  But  we  have  them  all  about  us 
in  limitless  quantity.  So  that  every  child 
can  gather  them,  and  study  them,  and  form 
collections  for  himself.  I  even  look  forward 
to  seeing  the  parents  themselves  become 
interested  in  the  wonders  of  rock  and  tree 
and  bird  and  insect,  through  the  interest 
which  you  will  awaken  in  the  children. 
And  my  firm  belief  is  that  the  success 
of  our  experiment  rests  more  upon  the 
implanting  and  maintenance  of  this  love  of 
nature,  animate  and  inanimate,  than  upon 
the  size  of  the  crops  and  harvests  gathered 
from  the  fields  and  gardens.  Because  even 
though  the  crops  and  harvests  are  small, — 
and  they  will  be  at  first,  —  they  will  at 
least    give   these   half-starved,  sickly  people 


162  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

a  better  living  than  they  had  in  those  city 
dens,  which  you  know  so  well." 

Thus  Miss  Vaughn  and  I  came  to  under- 
stand each  other,  and  I  felt  sure  that  she 
was  well  qualified  for  the  work.  She  had 
a  gift  of  enthusiasm  which  was  enkindling 
to  other  more  lethargic  minds.  She  and 
her  assistant  talked  separately  with  every 
boy  and  girl,  and  formed  an  opinion  as  to 
what  class  he  or  she  would  best  fit.  She 
called  at  many  of  the  cottages,  and  won  the 
confidence  of  the  mothers  ;  and  one  day  she 
broached  to  me  a  plan  of  a  kind  of  day  nurs- 
ery, which  two  young  English  girls  among 
the  colonists  could  take  charge  of.  This  idea 
we  carried  out,  using  one  of  the  lower  rooms 
in  Barton  Hall,  and  thereby  a  score  or  two 
of  worried  mothers  were  set  free  to  carry 
on  their  households  more  effectively,  and 
even  to  help  their  husbands  and  brothers 
in  the  lighter  work  of  their  farms. 

I  doubt  if  the  legendary  Pied  Piper  of 
Hamelin  had  greater  bewitchment  over  the 
hearts   of    his    juvenile    followers    than   did 


EDUCATION.  163 

Miss  Emily  Vaughn  over  her  pupils.  She 
carried  out  my  ideas  of  nature-study  even 
more  successfully,  and  with  greater  origi- 
nality, than  I  had  dared  hope.  She  not 
only  used  stories  of  birds  and  insects  and 
animals  as  reference-books,  but  she  made 
them  the  regular  reading-books ;  and  even 
before  the  little  ones  could  read  they  could 
distinguish  between  the  orders  of  Diptera  and 
Coleoptera,  and  knew  about  Ursa  Major  and 
the  Pleiades,  and  could  recognise  the  notes  of 
a  thrush  or  bobolink  as  far  away  as  they 
could  hear  them.  It  was  interesting,  even 
to  me,  to  see  the  children  trudging  over  the 
fields,  when  the  steady  fine  summer  weather 
had  set  in,  with  their  butterfly-nets  and  their 
big-mouthed  bottles ;  they  grew  wildly  excited 
over  Crusader  beetles  and  Tiger  beetles,  and 
popped  them  into  the  bottles  with  an  enthusi- 
asm which  no  autograph  hunter  or  stamp 
collector  could  possibly  equal. 

Then  there  were  the  endless  picnics  and 
excursions  which  were  arranged  for  them, 
not  days  of  idleness  by  any  means ;  but  Miss 


164  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

Vaughn  took  them  always  to  some  place 
which  illustrated,  in  rocks  or  trees,  or  land- 
formation,  the  lessons  of  geology  or  botany 
which  she  never  tired  of  imparting. 

Quite  as  I  anticipated,  the  fathers  and 
mothers  also  became  interested.  The  old 
saying  never  found  better  illustration  than 
in  our  colony  life,  that  "  wherever  the  lambs 
are  carried,  there  the  sheep  will  follow."  I 
saw,  now  and  then,  some  big  German  chasing 
a  butterfly ;  and  I  knew  that  in  his  household 
was  some  child  who  was  studying  Diptera. 
Or  I  might  notice  a  long,  lank,  swarthy 
Italian  pick  up  a  stone  and  examine  it ;  and 
then  I  surmised  that  in  his  cottage  was 
some  youthful  collector  of  mineralogical  speci- 
mens. The  parents  could  not  help  becoming 
interested. 

One  of  the  best  lectures  which  we  ever 
had,  in  Barton  Hall,  was  given  by  a  skilful 
vocalist,  with  the  assistance  of  coloured  stere- 
opticon  views.  He  threw  on  the  screen 
beautiful  pictures  of  almost  all  the  birds 
which  could  be   found   in  our  climate,  and 


EDUCATION.  165 

then  he  imitated  their  songs  and  calls,  so 
that  everybody  present  —  and  the  audience 
that  evening  numbered  about  three  hundred 
— was  delighted,  and  went  away  eager  for 
the  sun  to  rise,  the  next  morning,  in  order 
that  observations  might  be  made  on  the  notes 
of  the  real  birds. 

Sometimes,  on  my  rather  frequent  visits  to 
the  colony,  I  would  find  myself  stopped  by 
a  group  of  children,  and  my  judgment  asked 
regarding  the  name  of  a  tree  or  plant ;  they 
evidently  considered  me  a  repository  of 
universal  knowledge.  Sometimes  I  could 
give  them  the  desired  information,  and  some- 
times I  could  not ;  but  the  one  thing  which  I 
always  kept  in  mind,  in  meeting  them,  was 
to  show  great  interest  in  the  specimen  under 
discussion. 

Quite  naturally,  the  little  library  of  a 
thousand  volumes,  with  which  the  colony 
started,  contained  many  books  dealing,  in 
a  simple,  practical  way,  with  the  natural 
sciences.  Two  of  the  older  and  more  intelli- 
gent boys  were  put  in  charge  of  this  library, 


166  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

and  became  deeply  interested,  and  fairly 
efficient;,  in  the  care  and  distribution  of  the 
books. 

I  was  more  than  pleased  with  Miss 
Vaughn's  wise  administration  of  our  educa- 
tional work.  She  not  only  took  my  ideas,  at 
the  first,  but,  as  the  weeks  went  by,  and 
ripened  into  months,  she  adapted  herself  to 
new  conditions,  as  they  arose ;  and  she  origi- 
nated many  little  devices  and  methods,  to 
meet  problems  which  I  had  not  clearly  fore- 
seen. That  she  had  fully  grasped  the  nature 
of  our  colony-experiment  was  evident  to  me 
when  she  remarked  thoughtfully,  one  day, 
"  Education  in  the  past,  I  believe,  has  dealt 
too  much  with  the  intellect,  and  too  little 
with  the  heart.  It  has  imparted  ideas,  and 
has  neglected  emotions.  And  the  only  unique 
feature  of  our  system  of  education,  here  in 
Circle  City,  is  simply  its  emphasis  of  that 
emotional  factor.  We  need  to  lead  these 
children  —  and  even  their  parents,  indirectly 
—  not  merely  to  know  the  truth,  but  to  love 
it,  to  love  realities;  and  I  find  that  a  child 


EDUCATION.  167 

who  is  accustomed  to  search  for  the  facts  of 
natural  science,  accustomed  to  seek  realities, 
in  trees  and  birds  and  rocks,  and  insect  life, 
is  wonderfully  well  started  on  his  way  toward 
realities  in  conduct ;  that  is  to  say,  toward 
moral  truth,  and  upright  personal  living." 

One  matter  which  had  caused  me  a  little 
uneasiness,  was  helped  to  a  favourable  solu- 
tion by  Miss  Vaughn.  It  was  this.  We  all, 
syndicate  advisers  and  workers,  had  con- 
stantly the  anxiety  before  our  minds,  that 
these  people,  despite  all  our  efforts  to  make 
their  life  in  the  colony  attractive,  might  be 
drawn  back  into  the  great  maelstrom  of  the 
city.  We  had  discussed  this  danger,  with 
reference  to  our  trolley-line,  so  closely  uniting 
the  colony  to  the  metropolis.  A  few  had 
felt  doubt  about  keeping  open  so  direct  and 
available  a  means  of  communication  and  of 
possible  desertion.  However,  we  were,  as  a 
whole,  agreed  upon  having  the  railroad;  but 
we  were  careful  to  show  no  anxiety,  openly, 
about  desertions. 

The   way   in  which   Miss  Vaughn    helped 


168  BACK   TO   THE    SOIL. 

us,  was  by  working  skilfully  upon  the  sym- 
pathies and  loyalties  of  the  children.  She 
was  convinced  that  if  they  were  bound  close 
to  the  colony,  by  ties  of  affection  and  joy- 
ous association,  they  would  influence  greatly 
the  opinions  and  decisions  of  their  various 
homes.  So  she  always  spoke  enthusiastically 
of  country  life,  and  compassionately  of 
crowded  city  life.  And,  after  a  few  months 
had  passed,  she  began  to  take  groups  of 
children  into  the  city,  on  visits.  Not  by 
any  means  taking  them  as  a  reward,  but 
always  making  some  errand  of  business  or 
study  out  of  the  trip.  For  instance,  she 
took  them,  on  one  occasion,  to  visit  certain 
places  of  historic  interest,  and  kept  them 
busy  studying  these  places  and  the  scenes 
therewith  connected.  Again,  she  took  them 
to  visit  a  museum  of  natural  history,  to  verify 
some  of  the  specimens  which  a  class  had 
collected.  Also,  at  various  times,  she  took 
small  groups  to  study  certain  industries  and 
manufactories.  In  every  case  she  dealt  with 
the  metropolis  as  if  it  were  a  most  unattract- 


EDUCATION".  169 

ive,  objectionable  place,  containing  some 
points  of  interest,  but  utterly  undesirable 
to  live  in,  and  wholly  incomparable  with  the 
quiet,  varied,  free  life  of  the  country. 

She  often  reported  to  me  little  scraps  of 
conversation  among  the  children,  which  she 
overheard.  We  were  both  greatly  pleased 
at  finding  our  boys  and  girls,  well  fed,  tidy, 
brown,  and  happy,  as  they  now  were,  look- 
ing with  pity  on  the  children  of  the  slums, 
and  at  those  dirty  homes  as  repulsive. 

A  system  of  education,  however,  which 
deals  only  with  the  visible  and  tangible 
things  of  life,  is  incomplete.  Botanical  and 
geological  specimens  are  only  the  near  ends 
of  knowledge,  and  the  normal  human  mind 
and  heart  push  out  in  search  of  the  remote 
ends.  Our  educational  system  at  Circle  City 
took  account  of  not  only  the  lower  faculties 
of  the  understanding,  but  was  intended  to 
provide,  also,  for  the  higher  faculties  of  the 
reason  and  the  imagination. 

To  myself,  as  professedly  a  specialist  in 
these  matters,  the   religious  training   of  the 


170  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

colonists  was  entrusted ;  and  I  soon  saw  that 
there  were  several  distinct  ways  of  giving 
these  people  and  their  children  the  funda- 
mental primary  emotions,  out  of  which  the 
various  religious  helps  and  faiths  may  be 
later  specialised.  Wonder  is  the  root  of 
religion ;  wonder  is  the  inquiry  of  the  heart ; 
and  it  soon  passes,  if  carefully  nurtured,  into 
reverence  and  into  trust.  Religion  is,  essen- 
tially, an  emotion ;  and  I  saw  that  it  must 
be  clearly  recognised  as  such,  and  dealt 
with  emotionally.  So  I  came  to  rely,  for 
the  deepest  and  most  permanent  religious 
impressions  upon  the  children,  on  what  Miss 
Vaughn  —  a  very  devout  soul  —  might  find 
in  her  heart  to  say  to  the  classes  and  the 
individual  scholars,  as  she  taught  them  the 
facts  of  the  natural  sciences. 

I  say  frankly  that  we  did  not  believe 
that  religion  was  a  supernatural  revelation 
to  man;  we  believed  it  to  be  a  natural 
revelation  to  man,  as  is  all  beauty  or  truth. 
We  therefore  counted  on  finding,  in  the 
hearts   and   minds    of    these    young   people, 


EDUCATION.  171 

an  intellectual  and  emotional  response  to 
the  reverent  ideas  and  feelings  which  Miss 
Vaughn  expressed,  from  time  to  time,  in  the 
course  of  her  teaching.  Miss  Vaughn's 
religion  was  simple ;  simpler  and  less  differ- 
entiated into  specific  beliefs  than  my  own ; 
yet,  in  the  main,  we  agreed  very  well,  and 
I  could  always  supplement  her  reverent 
comments  on  the  wonderful  adaptations  in 
nature,  by  illustrations  and  applications  of 
my  own.  This  fundamental  instruction  in 
religion,  through  the  marvels  of  outer  phys- 
ical nature  and  the  emotions  of  the  human 
heart,  was  our  chief  consideration.  We 
aimed,  thus,  at  making  our  young  people 
first  theists,  as  opposed  to  atheists.  "We 
brought  them  thus  within  the  broad  realm 
of  universal  religion ;  but  more  was  needed. 
We  wished  them  to  enter  into  sympathy 
with  that  highest  form  of  religion  which  the 
world  has  ever  known,  —  Christianity.  We 
accomplished  our  aim,  naturally,  through 
historic  study.  Doctor  Barton  aided  us 
greatly  in  this  work.     He  took  up  the  study 


172  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

of  the  various  religions  of  the  world,  and 
became  deeply  interested.  Then  he  gave  a 
course  of  lectures  at  the  times  of  his  regular 
medical  visitations  to  the  colony.  He  was  a 
good  talker,  and  his  enthusiasm  was  con- 
tagious. The  lectures  were  given  in  the 
evenings,  and  were  open  to  all  the  colonists, 
though,  of  course,  were  not  compulsory. 
The  doctor  gave  a  short  sketch  of  each  of 
the  ancient  religions  and  their  founders,  and 
then  led  up  naturally  to  several  lectures  on 
the  Christian  religion  and  its  founder,  treat- 
ing it  exactly  in  the  same  clear,  impartial 
way  in  which  he  had  treated  Confucianism, 
and  Buddhism,  and  Islamism.  Even  the 
problems  of  the  miracles  he  dealt  with 
exactly  in  one  religion  as  in  another.  The 
record  regarding  the  parting  of  the  Red  Sea, 
for  Moses  and  his  people,  he  considered  in 
the  same  fair-minded  way  in  which  he  con- 
sidered the  record  about  Jesus  walking  upon 
the  sea,  or  raising  Lazarus  from  the  dead. 

Thus  the  minds  of  the  hearers  were  led, 
through    gradual    and    natural    steps,    from 


EDUCATION.  173 

lower  to  higher,  and  came  to  the  desirable 
point  where  they  were  in  sympathy  with 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  because  they  saw  the 
noble,  divine  place  he  had  filled  in  the 
world's  history  and  progress ;  and  they  were 
in  sympathy  with  his  emphasis  of  love  to 
God  and  man,  because  they  felt,  in  their 
own  hearts,  that  these  emotions  were  a  part 
of  the  great  tidal  currents  of  the  Infinite. 

Thus  the  instruction  of  old  and  young 
went  on.  Miss  Vaughn  took  notes,  secretly, 
of  Doctor  Barton's  lectures,  and,  with  her 
remarkable  power  of  adaptation,  arranged 
them  in  her  own  mind  for  presentation  to 
the  younger  minds  of  her  scholars. 

However,  in  addition  to  these  channels  of 
"  impression "  upon  the  religious  natures  of 
our  colonists,  I  saw  that  there  was  another 
side,  quite  as  important  in  its  way.  It  was 
the  side  of  "  expression."  I  sought  to  adapt 
to  the  needs  of  our  people  means  of  worship. 
There  are  currents  of  inflowing,  and  currents 
of  outflowing,  in  human  hearts ;  inlets  and 
outlets.     Man  needs  not  only  to  learn,  intel- 


174  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

lectually,  but  needs,  also,  to  express  himself 
emotionally ;  this  holds  true  in  all  kinds  of 
mental  and  emotional  life,  and  in  none  more 
absolutely  than  in  his  religious  life;  so  the 
problem  of  public  worship  faced  me  and  puz- 
zled me,  because,  with  public  worship,  the 
elements  of  theology  and  liturgy,  beliefs,  and 
forms,  came  into  prominence,  At  first  I 
went  out  Sunday  afternoons  and  held  relig- 
ious services  in  the  hall.  This  continued  for 
a  month  or  two.  I  avoided  all  doctrinal 
matters,  and  dealt  wholly  with  reverence  and 
love  for  God,  and  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ,  and 
good-will  to  our  fellow  men. 

Occasionally  Doctor  Barton  took  my  place, 
when  engagements  prevented  me  from  going ; 
and  I  must  confess  that  they  grew  to  like 
him  as  leader  better  than  they  did  me;  espe- 
cially was  this  true  of  his  sermons  or 
addresses.  His  words  were  not  as  skilfully 
arranged  as  mine,  for  he  had  not  been  given 
the  training  which  I  had;  but  what  he  said, 
he  said  clearly,  and,  somehow,  the  people 
seemed   to   take   his    words   to  their  hearts, 


EDUCATION.  175 

as  they  did  not  take  mine.  I  think  they 
took  my  exhortations  "with  a  grain  of  salt ;  " 
they  left  a  margin  for  my  professional  bias ; 
they  expected  me  to  tell  them  that  honesty 
and  kindliness  were  among  the  noblest  char- 
acteristics of  human  nature,  but  they  only 
half  believed  me.  On  the  contrary,  when 
Doctor  Barton  told  them  about  people  he  had 
met  in  his  medical  and  surgical  experience, 
and  gave  plain  facts,  and  deduced  sound  con- 
clusions about  human  hearts  from  those  facts, 
then  the  people  all  seemed  to  be  listening  to 
a  new  gospel.  I  do  not  pause  here  to  discuss 
this  phenomenon  exhaustively,  with  its  inter- 
esting inferences  and  deductions  ;  I  simply 
mention  it  with  candour  and  slight  chagrin. 
After  a  few  months  of  novelty  had  worn 
off,  the  various  theological  differences  hidden 
away  in  the  minds  of  our  people  began  to 
come  to  the  surface.  By  personal  intercourse 
with  them  I  gradually  learned  what  their  past 
affiliations  had  been  with  religious  bodies ; 
some  of  them  cared  very  little  about  keeping 
up  their  accustomed  forms  and  ceremonies ; 


176  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

but  others,  as  for  example  those  of  the  Roman- 
ist faith,  were  becoming  restless  without  their 
regular  attendance  on  mass.  A  few  of  them 
even  went  into  the  adjoining  city,  on  several 
Sundays,  to  attend  church ;  but  by  far  the 
larger  part  had  not  money  enough  for  car-fares. 

So  I  saw  that  we  must  make  some  perma- 
nent arrangement  to  meet  the  needs  of  all. 
And  after  a  little  time  used  in  correspondence 
and  personal  interviews,  we  found  a  genial, 
kindly  priest,  Father  Granahan,  who  agreed 
to  come  out  regularly  and  hold  services  in 
Barton  Hall,  according  to  the  ritual  of  his 
church.  A  special  dispensation  was  obtained, 
and  the  services  were  begun,  and  were  carried 
on  acceptably  to  all. 

This  arrangement  provided  for  nearly  half 
of  the  colony ;  then,  for  the  remainder,  I 
decided  to  form  a  Union  Church ;  and  I 
secured  a  young,  enthusiastic  graduate  of 
the  Harvard  Divinity  School,  this  being  the 
only  unsectarian  divinity  school  of  which 
I  knew  in  the  whole  country.  And  this 
young   man    was   ordained   at    the   Divinity 


EDUCATION.  177 

School  by  a  service  in  which  clergymen  of 
four  denominations  took  part. 

Thus  we  kept  our  religious  services  on  a 
good  broad  basis ;  and  we  arranged  our  Sun- 
days harmoniously,  with  reference  to  these 
meetings.  The  mass  of  the  Roman  Church 
was  said  at  eight  o'clock,  and  a  sermon  fol- 
lowed it.  They  were  good,  practical  talks, 
too,  that  Father  Granahan  gave.  Afterward, 
at  10.30,  the  union  service  for  the  Protes- 
tants was  held,  including  a  sermon,  usually  a 
sound,  sensible  one ;  both  our  preachers,  Ro- 
manist and  Protestant,  seemed  to  be  keenly 
alive  to  the  real  needs  of  our  people,  in  this 
experimental  condition.  Then  we  had  a  lec- 
ture of  some  sort,  economic,  or  scientific,  or 
historic,  in  the  evening,  at  7.30  o'clock. 

These  evening  lectures  were  attended  to  by 
Doctor  Barton ;  and  he  chose  both  subjects 
and  lecturers  with  great  care,  having  it 
clearly  understood  that  the  general  trend  and 
emphasis  of  each  lecture  was  to  be  construct- 
ive, optimistic,  and  broadly  religious. 

Speaking,  as  I  now  am,  of  our  efforts  in 


178  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

educational  work  in  our  colony,  I  must  not 
omit  to  mention  the  use  we  are  making  of  the 
dramatic  art.  We  have  not  proceeded  far  in 
this  direction,  so  that  I  cannot  say  very  defi- 
nitely just  what  our  success  is.  But  I  can  at 
least  outline  our  plan.  We  are  making  use 
of  plays  to  teach  and  strengthen  moral  and 
religious  principles  in  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  our  people.  This  is  my  own  plan,  and  I 
have  been  led  to  try  it  from  seeing  how  much 
deeper  are  the  impressions  made  by  ideas  or 
feelings,  when  coming  from  the  lips  of  a  char- 
acter on  the  stage,  with  scenery  and  story 
and  costume,  than  when  coining  from  a 
speaker  in  a  pulpit  or  on  a  platform. 

So  I  have  had  these  performances,  thus 
far,  in  the  hall,  limited  to  plays  which  em- 
phasised the  moral  and  reverent  and  tender 
side  of  life ;  and  I  have  had  these  performed 
by  the  very  excellent  Dramatic  Club  in  my 
own  church.  The  young  people  in  the  club 
have  entered  into  the  work  with  eagerness, 
and  I  am  abundantly  satisfied  with  the  suc- 
cess of  our  plan  so  far  as  we  have  gone  with 


EDUCATION.  179 

it.  The  people  of  our  colony  are  simple  in 
nature,  and  untrained  in  their  emotions,  and 
all  sentiments  about  home  and  wife  and 
country  and  God,  when  uttered  on  the  stage, 
are  taken  as  literally  and  fully  as  though  the 
scene  depicted  were  actually  happening ;  and 
the  applause  which  greets  some  of  these 
great,  noble,  foundation  sentiments,  would 
electrify  many  a  stumbling,  discouraged 
pulpit  speaker,  if  only  he  could  hear  it  in 
response  to  his  own  words. 

Thus  I  have  hastily  sketched  the  work  which 
we  are  doing  in  educational  ways.  We  con- 
sider it  of  the  greatest  importance  for  our  per- 
manent welfare.  The  real  value  of  country 
life  can  be  felt  only  by  a  generation  of  people 
who  have  grown  used  to  it,  in  its  most  attract- 
ive and  intellectual  presentation.  And  our 
educational  work  aims,  first  of  all,  to  establish 
this  tie  of  association  and  sympathy  with  fields, 
brooks,  hills,  birds,  insects,  and  plant-life,  so 
that  these  shall  be  intellectual  and  aesthetic 
resources,  instead  of  being,  as  heretofore, 
merely  bare  utilities,  or  objects  of  contempt. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

RULERS    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

I  WAS  more  than  ever  struck  with  Colonel 
Royce's  business  shrewdness  and  far- 
sightedness, the  other  day,  when  he  came  to 
my  house  to  talk  over  some  of  the  knotty 
points  of  our  colonial  problem.  I  made 
some  remark  about  house-lots  along  the 
route  of  our  trolley-line  to  the  metropolis. 
I  had  noticed,  on  my  last  visit  to  Circle  City, 
that  several  lots  were  being  staked  out,  and 
one  or  two  foundations  were  being  dug  near 
the  track ;  and  I  said  to  my  friend,  "  I  am  no 
business  man,  Colonel  Royce,  but  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  value  of  all  that  new  land  is  sure 
to  rise." 

The  colonel  smiled.  "  It  has  already  risen ; " 
said  he,  with  a  quizzical  look  which  puzzled 
me. 

180 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       181 

I  looked  at  him  in  silence,  for  a  moment, 
and  then  asked  what  he  meant.  "  I  mean 
simply  this,"  said  he ;  "I  saw,  months  ago, 
before  we  began  work  at  Circle  City,  in  fact, 
just  as  soon  as  it  was  clear  that  the  project 
of  a  trolley-road  was  going  through,  that 
land  along  the  line  was  to  become  valuable ; 
and  I  took  care  of  a  large  part  of  that  land 
myself,  and  now  I  am  selling  it  in  the  shape 
of  house-lots,  for  about  five  times  as  much  as 
I  paid  for  it.  I  did  not  care  to  ask  the  syn- 
dicate to  go  into  this  investment.  But  what- 
ever I  make  out  of  it  I  shall,  as  a  point  of 
honour,  hold  for  the  benefit  of  our  colony, 
and  use  in  its  betterment." 

My  eyes  were  wide  open  in  surprise  and 
admiration,  as  my  far-sighted,  noble  friend 
spoke.  I  realised  clearly  how  he  had  been 
able  to  amass  so  much  wealth,  in  the  few 
years  he  had  devoted  to  business  life.  He 
was  a  man  of  superior  perception  and  cour- 
ageous will,  and  he  deserved  the  leadership 
he  had  won. 

"While   we    were    talking,    Doctor    Barton 


182  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

entered.  He  had  just  come  from  one  of  his 
many  visits  to  Circle  City.  I  had  been  sur- 
prised at  the  great  number  of  visits  he  had 
made,  of  late,  to  the  little  colony;  but  when 
he  informed  me  that  he  had  taken  a  younger 
physician  into  his  office,  I  could  understand 
better  his  unusual  amount  of  leisure  time. 
However,  Margaret  and  I  had  secretly 
exchanged  suspicions  regarding  the  good 
doctor's  relations  to  our  excellent  teacher, 
Miss  Vaughn.  He  showed,  without  disguise, 
his  unbounded  admiration  for  her ;  and,  of 
late,  I  fancied  that  I  had  detected  in  him  a 
peculiar  interest  in  the  dignified  young  school- 
mistress. He  quoted  her  sayings  and  doings, 
as  it  seemed  to  me,  rather  unnecessarily ;  and 
he  often  grew  confused,  as  he  spoke  of  her 
wise,  patient  dealings  with  the  children  and 
with  their  parents. 

On  this  occasion,  he  had  an  account  to 
give  of  Miss  Vaughn's  somewhat  stormy 
interview  with  an  Italian,  the  father  of  two 
of  her  pupils.  The  man  had  presented  him- 
self  at    the   schoolroom,  in  an  angry  state, 


EULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       183 

because  his  boy  had  been  kept  after  school 
hours.  Doctor  Barton  said  that  he  himself 
was  in  the  room,  and  witnessed  the  interview. 
It  transpired,  however,  that  the  boy  had  not 
been  kept  after  school ;  he  had  gone  off  into 
the  woods,  with  another  boy,  to  shirk  the 
work  which  he  knew  was  awaiting  him  at 
home,  and  had  told  his  father  a  lie. 

"  Oh,  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  Miss 
Vaughn,"  exclaimed  Doctor  Barton,  as  he 
threw  himself  on  a  lounge.  "  She  was  grand, 
superb.  She  just  let  that  glaring  Italian  talk 
himself  out,  while  she  kept  her  eyes  calmly 
fixed  upon  him.  She  uttered  not  a  word, 
until  he  had  finished  all  his  loud  talk,  then 
she  merely  said  :  '  I  did  not  keep  your  boy 
after  school.  He  left  this  room  with  the 
others,  exactly  on  the  hour.  You  have  made 
some  mistake.  You  would  best  question  him 
more  closely,  before  coming  here  with  your 
excited  talk.'  Then  she  turned  straight 
about,  and  left  him ;  and  he  was  completely 
upset,  by  her  quiet  way  of  doing  things." 

"  That  leads  me,"  continued  Colonel  Royce, 


184  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

"  to  speak  of  a  matter  upon  which  I  reflect 
often,  but  upon  which  I  have  not  yet  formu- 
lated any  definite  plans.  Here  we  have  this 
company  of  people,  several  hundred  souls,  in 
a  manner  committed  to  our  care.  At  present 
we  are  maintaining  a  strictly  paternal  form  of 
government ;  we  are  taking  charge  of  them, 
in  many  ways,  and  dictating  to  them  the 
terms  upon  which  they  must  live.  But  we 
do  not  believe  in  that  kind  of  communal  life, 
as  a  permanency,  because  it  leads  to  either 
rebellion  or  slavery,  on  the  part  of  its  partic- 
ipants. We  therefore  aim  at  democracy  as 
the  ultimate  goal,  —  self-government ;  but 
just  what  standard  we  shall  apply,  just  what 
requirements  we  shall  impose  upon  a  man 
to  allow  him  to  help  govern  the  colony,  this 
is  what  I  cannot  easily  settle  for  myself. 
We  wish  these  people,  as  soon  as  they  are 
qualified  for  it,  to  own  their  houses  and  lands, 
and  be  each  legally  entrenched  in  his  home 
as  in  a  castle.  So  firmly  entrenched  that  no 
other  individual,  even  the  doctor  himself,  can 
dislodge  him,  if  he  wills  to  stay." 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       185 

"  Do  you  think  it  will  be  safe,"  asked  the 
doctor,  "  to  allow  even  the  most  industrious 
of  these  men  to  place  himself  in  a  position 
where  he  can  defy  and  impair  the  funda- 
mental policy  of  the  colony  ?  What  would 
you  say  to  leasing  house  and  farm  to  such  a 
person,  and  not  selling  it  outright  ?  A  lease, 
say,  of  a  hundred  years  ?  " 

We  reflected  a  few  moments  in  silence,  and 
then  Colonel  Royce  said  :  "  No,  I  confess  that 
I  wish  to  see  the  full  solution  of  this  problem 
during  my  own  lifetime ;  and  until  these  fam- 
ilies are  really  legal  owners  of  their  estates, 
and  are  law-abiding  and  reasonable,  from  free 
choice  and  not  because  they  are  under  surveil- 
lance of  some  owner  or  agent,  only  then  will 
our  experiment  be  completely  a  success." 

"  Well,  I  think  you  are  right,"  said  Doctor 
Barton.  "  I  have  some  anxiety  about  letting 
the  final  decision  pass  out  of  our  own  hands, 
but  we  must  face  even  that.  And,  provided 
that  these  people  are  properly  qualified  for 
it,  I  see  no  more  reason  to  doubt  their  ability 
to  govern  themselves  than  I  see  reasons  for 


186  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

doubting  the  ability  of  this  nation,  as  a  whole, 
to  govern  itself." 

"  But  some  of  us  have  moments  of  discour- 
agement," I  ventured  to  add,  laughing,  "  when 
we  doubt  a  little  the  ability  of  our  citizens  to 
govern  themselves,  and  continue  long  in  a 
stable,  safe  form  of  national  existence." 

Then  Colonel  Royce  put  the  very  question 
which  was  hanging  on  my  lips.  "  What 
ought  we  to  require  of  one  of  our  colonists,  in 
order  that  we  shall  dare  to  put  him  in  full 
possession  of  his  farm  ?  " 

Whereupon  we  marked  out,  step  by  step, 
the  following  list  of  requirements.  We 
agreed  that  a  man,  in  order  to  become  full 
possessor  of  his  house  and  land,  must  have 
the  money  to  buy  the  property,  and  must 
have  paid  up  his  indebtedness  incurred  during 
the  first  year  or  two,  while  he  was  learning 
how  to  carry  on  his  work  with  a  margin  of 
profit ;  then  he  must  be  qualified,  mentally 
and  morally ;  must  be  able  to  read  and  write 
and  do  simple  arithmetical  computations,  and 
must  have  satisfied  the  syndicate  of  his  peace- 


RULERS  OP  THE  PEOPLE.       187 

ful,  law-abiding  temper.  We  reserved  the 
right  to  refuse  a  sale  to  any  man,  who,  how- 
ever industrious  and  skilful  he  might  be,  was 
thought  to  be  a  person  of  evil  influence  or 
destructive  tendencies. 

This  plan  we  shall  carry  out  when  the 
proper  time  comes,  tacitly  making  Patrick 
and  Bridget  the  judges  of  the  people's  moral 
and  social  fitness,  and  Miss  Vaughn  and  Doc- 
tor Barton  judges  of  their  mental  fitness. 
When,  a  few  weeks  later,  Colonel  Royce 
called  the  people  together  and  outlined  to 
them  the  general  idea  of  our  plan,  they  took 
it  with  approval ;  and,  if  we  can  bring  it  into 
actual  working  a  year  from  now,  we  shall 
start  our  colony  on  a  far  higher  level  of  mem- 
bership than  is  seen  in  the  voting  classes  of 
our  cities  and  towns. 

Colonel  Royce  took  occasion  in  his  excellent 
little  address  to  explain  to  the  people  that  the 
best  talkers  in  a  community  or  in  a  trades- 
union  were  often  not  the  soundest  thinkers ; 
he  cited  examples  of  shallow  demagogues,  and 
urged  the  people  to  think  for  themselves,  and 


188  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

not  be  blindly  led  by  their  emotions.  After- 
ward he  said  that  he  thought  we  would  do 
well  to  suggest  to  our  various  lecturers  and 
preachers  that  they  emphasise  this  very  point 
whenever  germane  to  the  line  of  their 
thought. 

"  It  is  from  ill-regulated  emotions  that  a  de- 
mocracy has  most  to  fear  ;  "  said  he,  with  con- 
viction. "  There  is  no  emotion  so  noble  that 
it  may  not  become,  when  manipulated  by  a 
skilful  demagogue,  a  menace  to  the  public 
weal ;  and  people  must  be  taught,  not  how  to 
feel  less  keenly,  but  to  know  when  they  are 
feeling,  and  when  they  are  reasoning;  they 
must  learn  to  distinguish  between  the  two." 

I  ought,  properly,  here,  to  advert  to  our  brief 
but  conclusive  experience  with  a  simple  form 
of  that  method  of  self-government  known  as 
"the  referendum."  Before  the  incident  oc- 
curred, one  of  the  members  of  our  syndicate 
had  much  to  say  in  favour  of  this  form  of  pop- 
ular arbitration.  Afterward  he  was  silent  on 
the  subject.  The  affair  was  simply  this. 
One  of  our  colonists  was  the  possessor  of  a 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       189 

battered  old  cornet,  and  thought  himself  a 
skilful  performer ;  but  he  was  so  vain  and 
dictatorial  that  our  band  summarily  turned 
him  out,  after  he  had  been  a  member  a  few 
months.  Then  he  set  up  an  opposition  per- 
formance, when  they  came  out  and  played  one 
evening  in  the  public  oval.  This  was  dis- 
tracting and  offensive.  We  had  the  power  to 
stop  him,  ourselves,  of  course ;  but  we  tried 
the  referendum  method,  and  with  this  result. 
The  people  met,  in  great  wrath,  after  the 
band  concert  was  over,  and  voted  expulsion  for 
the  offending  musician ;  unanimously  voted 
it ;  and,  in  their  wrath,  would  have  pun- 
ished him  more  severely  if  that  had  been 
possible.  We  of  the  syndicate,  however,  de- 
layed execution  of  this  sentence  a  week  or 
more,  and  suggested  that  the  people  meet 
once  more,  for  reconsideration  of  the  man's 
sentence.  And  then  came  out  the  weak  spot 
in  the  referendum  method.  Not  a  dozen  per- 
sons came.  Their  wrath  had  cooled  ;  they 
had  become  interested  in  their  various  con- 
cerns, and  would  not  take  the  time  and  trouble 


190  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

to  meet.  So  Patrick  was  quietly  deputed,  as 
agent  of  the  syndicate,  to  see  the  man  and 
gain  a  promise  of  good  behaviour.  And  this 
was  easily  done,  and  the  whole  disturbance 
soon  sank  out  of  sight. 

The  summer  months  passed  away  very 
happily.  Margaret  and  I  gave  up  our  usual 
vacation  at  the  seaside,  and  took  a  house  in 
a  village  adjacent  to  Circle  City.  We  were 
so  deeply  interested  in  the  success  of  our 
colony  that  we  really  enjoyed  this  use  of  our 
time  more  than  we  would  have  enjoyed  the 
month  in  some  hotel  at  the  shore.  In  this 
way  we  were  able  to  relieve  Miss  Vaughn  and 
her  assistant,  giving  them  a  fortnight  away 
from  their  duties.  Whatever  plan  might  be 
followed  in  subsequent  summers,  we  decided 
that  during  this  first  and  most  important  year, 
the  machinery  of  the  colony  should  be  kept  in 
full  operation.  So  Margaret  and  I  held  a 
part  of  the  classes,  and  gave  object-lessons, 
and  taught  the  children  in  all  possible  ways. 

We  had  counted  on  Doctor  Barton's  assist- 
ance during  our  brief  term  of  service ;  but  he 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       191 

strangely  disappeared  on  the  day  following 
Miss  Vaughn's  departure,  and  several  of  us 
could  not  help  wagging  our  heads  a  little 
over   this  striking  coincidence. 

As  I  drove  over  each  day,  and  saw,  close 
at  hand,  the  daily  working  of  our  experiment, 
I  became  easier  in  mind  about  the  success 
of  our  half  of  it,  namely,  the  important  social 
half.  It  was  evident  enough  that  the  people, 
men,  women,  and  children,  were  enjoying 
their  life.  And  how  could  they  help  it! 
"  Excitement  ?  "  Why,  there  was  almost  too 
much  for  me ;  there  was  a  steady  succession 
of  lectures,  and  entertainments,  and  meet- 
ings, and  concerts.  The  musical  talent  of  the 
colony  was  bearing  good  fruit,  in  band  and 
orchestra,  and,  with  picnics  and  excursions, 
the  people  had  a  surfeit  of  excitement.  I 
think  that  in  later  years  the  colony  will  do 
better  without  quite  so  much  stirring  up ; 
they  will  have  and  enjoy  a  somewhat  quieter 
life ;  nevertheless,  we  have  deemed  it  best, 
this  first  year,  to  lean  to  the  side  of  sensation 
and  excitement.     And,  certainly,  we  are  hold- 


192  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

ing  the  people  wonderfully,  and  their  happy, 
wholesome  faces  attest  the  well-being  of  their 
bodies  and  minds. 

There  has  arisen  one  very  natural  com- 
plication, which  has  caused  some  difference 
of  opinion;  and,  as  it  is  logically  connected 
with  the  problem  of  interesting  and  amusing 
and  holding  our  people,  I  may  as  well  speak 
of  it  here  as  anywhere.  I  had  for  some  time 
foreseen  it,  and  yet  did  not  care  to  force 
it  into  discussion  and  debate.  It  was  the 
question  of  the  proper  use  of  Sundays  in 
our  weekly  programme. 

I  had  already  provided  for  church  worship 
and  for  a  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  even 
for  instruction  in  social  and  economic  ques- 
tions. Thus  I  had  tried  to  meet  the  various 
needs  of  the  various  classes  of  minds  within 
our  colony;  but  the  problem  of  amusements 
I  had  not  definitely  met ;  and,  before  long, 
that  was  forced  upon  us.  The  church  service 
and  the  Sunday-school  instruction,  and  the 
lectures,  all  these  I  classified  as  educational; 
they  are  that,  for   everybody,   whatever   his 


KULERS    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  193 

social  situation.  But,  outside  the  large 
majority  who  were  content  with  these  uses 
of  the  day,  there  were  many,  young  and  old, 
who  desired  to  make  the  day  more  of  a  holi- 
day, and  give  it  up  to  sports  and  pastimes. 

The  problem  was  not  an  easy  one  for  us. 
It  was  not  enough  to  state  the  general  princi- 
ples involved,  not  enough  to  point  out  that 
the  day  was,  essentially,  a  day  of  rest,  and 
that  rest  comes  as  much  by  change  of  occu- 
pation as  by  utter  indolence.  No,  we  were 
compelled  to  decide  upon  concrete  cases, 
and  we  found  it  hard  to  draw  the  line. 

In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  that,  from 
the  beginning,  I  had  caused  to  be  kept  an 
accurate  record  of  attendance  at  all  the  Sun- 
day exercises,  lectures,  services,  and  classes 
for  religious  study.  I  had  no  definite  pur- 
pose when  I  ordered  this  done,  but  I  antici- 
pated difficulties  regarding  the  use  of  Sunday, 
and  I  fancied  that  I  might  find  it  convenient, 
later,  to  know  just  what  persons  devoted 
some  part  of  the  day  to  pursuits  other  than 
work  or  play. 


194  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

Of  course,  all  regular  work  was  stopped 
on  that  day.  At  times,  there  came  up  ques- 
tions about  the  care  of  hay,  or  live-stock, 
and  the  like ;  but  no  absolute  rules  were  laid 
down.  These  matters  were  touched  upon 
occasionally,  in  the  sermons  and  lectures, 
but  I  foresaw  that  compulsion  would  be  bad, 
and  would  induce  reaction  and  rebellion. 

However,  public  opinion  was  strong  enough 
to  settle  that  no  regular  work  should  be 
done.  But,  outside  of  that,  came  the  prob- 
lem of  games  and  noisy  diversions.  The 
boys  wished  to  play  ball;  the  band  asked 
if  they  could  not  give  a  concert ;  and  several 
mothers  inquired  of  me  whether  I  approved 
the  reading  of  any  books  beside  the  Bible. 
Also,  there  were  a  few  copies  of  the  Sunday 
newspaper  to  be  seen  about  the  place. 

Each  of  these  questions  we  found  ourselves 
compelled  to  pass  upon  separately.  But  we 
divided  them  into  two  classes ;  namely,  those 
which  could  disturb  anybody,  other  than  the 
person  engaged  in  them,  and  those  which 
were  quiet  and  unobtrusive.     Regarding  only 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       195 

the  class  involving  public  disturbance  did  we 
dare  attempt  to  dictate.  There,  however, 
we  drew  the  line.  We  tested  the  opinions  of 
the  people  beforehand,  found  we  could  trust 
them,  and  called  a  public  meeting,  at  which 
the  merits  of  the  questions  were  candidly 
presented ;  and  then  we  called  for  a  vote, 
and  that  vote  was  almost  unanimous  for  peace 
and  order.  So  we  had  no  band  concerts,  and 
no  noisy  demonstrations  of  any  kind,  in  or 
near  the  circle  of  the  colony.  A  mile  away, 
however,  there  were  some  fields  which  were 
available  for  sports ;  and  whoever  desired, 
was  free  to  go  there  and  indulge  in  all  the 
noisy  recreation  he  might  wish. 

What  it  amounted  to,  when  one  of  us  was 
asked  for  his  opinion  on  Sunday  observance, 
was  this  :  that  we  did  not  discountenance  the 
recreation  side,  but  we  urged  the  use  of  some 
hours  of  the  day  in  cultivating  the  higher 
faculties  of  the  mind  and  heart.  And  here 
came  in  the  value  of  our  record  of  attendance  : 
by  it  we  could  see  who  were  using  the  day 
for  pastimes  only,  and  who  were  using  it  for 


196  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

religious  and  moral  education  also.  Person- 
ally, I  felt  and  said  that  the  full  use  of  the 
day  would  include  three  things :  united  wor- 
ship in  a  church  service,  and  religious  and 
moral  education,  and  games  like  baseball, 
cricket,  golf,  and  others ;  these  games  to  be 
carried  on  well  outside  the  limits  of  the  colony 
circle. 

However,  the  social  or  educational  part  of 
our  colony  life  is  but  half  of  it.  There  is 
also  a  financial  half.  We  have  come  to  di- 
vide the  policy  of  Circle  City  into  these  two 
halves  :  first,  the  Social  Half ;  we  must  make 
life  in  the  country  desirable  and  joyful. 
Second,  the  Financial  Half ;  and  that  half 
we  subdivide  into  quarters  :  into  the  Industrial 
and  the  Agricultural  elements.  Of  these  two, 
the  agricultural  part  is  so  far  advanced  that 
we  are  convinced  of  its  success.  There  are 
a  few  of  our  colonist-farmers  who  will  earn  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  this  year,  enough 
to  pay  the  moderate  rent  we  have  named. 
And,  another  year,  there  will  be  a  large  ma- 
jority who  will  be  able  to  fully  support  them- 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       197 

selves  and  begin  to  repay  the  amount  charged 
against  them  during  this  year.  Of  course 
they  all  live  very  simply,  frugally,  and  not 
quite  as  I  myself  would  like  to  live  ;  but 
when  their  present  mode  of  life,  with  its 
comfort  and  cleanliness,  is  compared  with  the 
slum  life,  out  of  which  most  of  them  came, 
the  difference  for  the  better  is  vast. 

This  Social  Half  of  our  problem  has  been 
the  half  for  which  Doctor  Barton  and  Marga- 
ret and  I  personally  took  most  responsibility. 
The  Financial  Half,  with  its  two  divisions, 
Agricultural  and  Industrial,  has  fallen  natu- 
rally to  the  especial  care  of  Colonel  Royce 
and  the  sound  business  minds  of  our  syn- 
dicate. They  agree  with  me  that  the  agri- 
cultural part  is  assuredly  successful ;  they 
no  longer  look  upon  it  as  an  experiment. 
The  first  year  is  the  most  trying  one,  and  its 
results  already  give  convincing  proofs  of  the 
permanent  success  of  the  colony.  They  will 
hold  a  kind  of  fair,  or  exhibition  of  products 
each  year,  with  awards  of  prizes ;  and  this 
has  had  perceptible  influence  on  the  families. 


198  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

Regarding  the  Industrial  division  of  our 
colony  work,  we  are  still  in  doubt,  though 
there  is  every  reason  to  expect  entire  success. 
In  this  field  of  effort  a  considerable  number  of 
minor  industries  are  already  in  operation,  and 
the  people  show  great  capacity  for  learning 
how  to  carry  them  on.  Of  these  I  shall  speak 
more  in  detail,  hi  our  next  chapter.  At  this 
point  in  my  narrative  I  wish  to  say  that  we 
have  proceeded  far  enough  in  our  experiment 
to  be  able  to  generalise  a  little,  with  some 
assurance,  and  to  verify  by  facts  certain  of 
the  theories  of  human  nature  with  which  we 
started. 

First  of  all  let  me  say,  with  as  much  force 
as  I  possess,  that  among  all  the  products  of 
our  colony,  we  find  healthy,  happy  men, 
women  and  children  to  be  the  most  satisfac- 
tory. The  fact  that  we  can  develop  these,  out 
of  the  pale,  hopeless  specimens  of  humanity 
which  we  took  from  the  crowded  dens  of  the 
metropolis,  —  this  alone  would  justify  our  ex- 
periment. Involved  in  this  kind  of  product, 
however,  are  other  products,  material  and  spir- 


RULERS    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  199 

itual.  If  the  colony  were  not  a  financial  and 
social  and  sanitary  success,  the  faces  of  onr 
colonists  would  not  show  such  evident  signs 
of  prosperity  and  content.  Nearly  all  of 
them  are  now  realising  that  they  amount  to 
something ;  that  they  can  do  something  in 
life ;  that  they  deserve  and  have  a  place  in 
the  world.  Their  self-respect  is  restored ; 
they  have  lost  that  haunted  look  which  they 
once  wore,  and  wear  an  expression  of  con- 
fidence in  themselves  and  in  all  whom  they 
meet. 

"We  are  also  beginning  to  demonstrate,  as 
Colonel  Royce  predicted  from  the  first,  that 
the  heaviest  cost  is  at  the  first.  With  each 
year  resources  are  opened  up,  greater  efficiency 
is  acquired,  and  mistakes  are  corrected.  I 
remember  well  Colonel  Royce's  illustration. 
"  It  will  be,"  said  he,  at  one  of  the  first  meet- 
ings of  the  syndicate,  "  as  it  is  with  running 
steam-cars ;  it  will  cost  much  more  to  start 
the  colony  than  to  keep  it  going."  And  his 
prophecy  has  been  verified.  We  can  even  see 
certain  moral  qualities  and  conditions  devel- 


200  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL- 

oped  out  of  the  very  nature  of  things,  in  the 
life  of  the  colony.  For  example,  while  we 
have  a  certain  wholesome  amount  of  rivalry, 
there  is  lacking  among  our  people  much  of 
that  fierce  competition,  which  is  manifest  in 
most  industrial  fields,  to  a  wild  and  deadly 
degree ;  and  for  this  reason,  that  most  of  our 
colonists  are  occupied  in  tilling  the  ground,  or 
in  raising  such  products  of  farm  and  dairy  as 
can  themselves  directly  support  life.  Whereas, 
in  the  usual  factory  or  mill  life,  of  the  outside 
world,  the  products  are  not  themselves  capa- 
ble of  supporting  life  directly,  but  must  be 
first  transferred  to  markets  and  transformed 
into  money,  before  food,  clothing,  and  shelter 
can  be  obtained  from  them.  The  mill  agent 
knows  that  no  matter  what  the  quality  or 
quantity  of  his  woollen  or  paper  goods  may 
be,  the  money  from  their  sale  will  depend  very 
considerably  on  what  products  are  going  out 
from  other  mills ;  but  the  farmer  or  dairy- 
man knows  that,  even  if  a  market  is  hard  to 
find,  or  even  becomes  for  a  time  impossible, 
his  produce  can  support  his  own  life  and  that 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       201 

of  his  family.  In  short,  the  life  of  the  farm 
is  much  less  "  competitive  "  than  the  life  of 
factory  and  store ;  each  man's  success  is  less 
advanced  by  the  failure  of  his  neighbour,  and 
he  is  less  likely  to  wish  failure  to  that  neigh- 
bour. Thus  there  is  possible  what  the  life  of 
our  colony  soon  evinced,  a  general  kindliness 
and  readiness  to  mutually  render  service,  which 
is  rarely  seen  in  mercantile  and  industrial  life, 
or,  if  seen,  is  feigned  or  forced.  Many  times, 
as  we  saw  these  friendly  offers  of  help  or 
interest  in  one  another's  successes,  we  had 
occasion  to  be  deeply  gratified  at  the  non- 
communistic  basis  of  our  little  city.  The 
greatest  possible  amount  of  individual  free- 
dom and  ownership  was  preserved,  yet  there 
was  present  a  "  communism  of  spirit,"  which 
was  genuine  and  fruitful. 

One  interesting  feature  in  the  life  of  the 
women  and  girls  we  have  noted,  and  it  will 
become  more  marked  still,  we  think,  when 
untiring  Bridget  succeeds  in  her  plans  for  a 
general  laundry  and  a  general  bakery.  It  is, 
that  women  have  far  more  diversity  of  tastes 


202  BACK   TO    THE   SOIL. 

and  gifts  than  the  past  has  accorded  to  them. 
It  has  been  all  too  hastily,  and  even  selfishly, 
assumed  by  men  that  woman's  tastes  and 
qualifications  lie  mainly  in  the  household ; 
but  with  the  specialising  of  work,  which  is 
coming  more  and  more,  we  can  already  see 
that  not  all  women  are  born  with  a  love  of 
cooking  and  washing,  and  mending  and 
sweeping.  Some  love  these  occupations,  but 
others  do  not,  yet  can  do  good  work  in  cer- 
tain of  the  smaller  industries,  of  which  I 
shall  later  speak,  —  industries  not  requiring 
strength,  and  often  capable  of  operation  under 
the  home  roof.  Thus  we  have  succeeded  in 
providing  for  each  woman  more  of  the  kinds 
of  work  she  likes,  and  less  of  the  kinds  she 
dislikes ;  and  there  is,  thereby,  much  less 
friction  and  fretting  than  in  most  homes. 

Many  a  time,  as  I  have  watched  our  people 
going  to  their  work  or  coming  from  it,  talk- 
ing interestedly  on  questions  of  crops  and 
fertilisers,  and  planting  and  harvesting,  I 
have  been  reminded  of  the  old  myth  of  An- 
taeus, who  was  the  son  of  Terra,  the  Earth ; 


RULERS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.       203 

in  wrestling  with  Hercules,  he  renewed  his 
strength  each  time  that  he  touched  foot  on 
the  ground.  That  is  the  way  with  these 
colonists  of  ours ;  once  pale,  hopeless  inmates 
of  city  alleys  and  cellars,  now  self-respecting, 
hopeful  human  beings,  not  perfect,  not  always 
appreciative  of  the  help  given  them,  but 
raised  far  above  the  vicious  pauper  level  of 
their  old  life.  They  have  gained  strength, 
like  Antseus,  by  contact  with  Earth,  the 
mother  of  us  all,  so  far  as  our  physical  frames 
and  senses  are  concerned.  "  The  landless 
man  has  come  to  the  manless  land."  Nature's 
balance  is  restored. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS. 
"Who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small  things?" 

T  WISH  to  narrate,  in  this  chapter,  some 
^  of  the  details  of  our  "  smaller  industries." 
When  we  first  planned  our  farm-colony,  there 
were  certain  general  principles  which  were 
clear  to  us,  and  we  have  not  departed  from 
them ;  for  instance,  there  was  our  theory  of 
the  economic  arrangement  of  the  farms  and 
house-lots.  Although  we  have  somewhat 
modified  the  first  stiff  geometrical  drawing, 
yet,  in  the  main,  the  principle  of  close  group- 
ing at  or  around  the  centre  of  a  circle  was 
sound.  Then,  too,  we  were  prepared  to  insist 
on  "  intensive  farming,"  where  the  ground 
was  tilled  and  crops  were  sought;  and  by 
"intensive  farming"  is  meant  the  more  vig- 


204 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS   AND    OTHERS.        205 

orous  and  earnest  and  thorough  cultivation 
of  small  tracts  of  land,  instead  of  loosely 
half  cultivating  large  tracts.  The  skilful 
farmers  of  France  and  Belgium  have  shown, 
incontestably,  what  fruitful  results  can  be 
gained  from  this  method  of  "  small  holdings." 
Experience  has  justified  this  plan  in  our  com- 
munity, as  in  many  other  places.  Also  we 
determined,  from  the  first,  to  try  for  a  far 
greater  variety  of  crops  than  the  usual  farm- 
ing in  the  Eastern  States  attempts.  Most 
farmers  put  all  their  time  and  effort  and 
money  into  one  crop,  —  all  their  eggs  into 
one  basket,  —  and  if  disaster  befalls  that  one, 
then  all  their  work  and  money  and  time  are 
lost.  So  we  had  our  "  Directors  "  instructed 
to  keep  their  minds  open  to  new  ideas,  and 
to  try  for  as  great  a  variety  as  possible  of 
crops.  A  few  of  our  ventures  have  failed, 
but  most  of  them  have  succeeded,  or  shown 
that  they  could  succeed,  with  slight  modifica- 
tions. The  farmers  of  the  past  have,  in  the 
main,  mechanically  followed  the  example  of 
their   fathers,    and    raised   hay    or   grain   or 


206  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

cattle,  simply  because  their  ancestors  did  the 
one  or  the  other.  We  have  made  the  eyes 
of  some  of  the  neighbouring  old-style  farmers 
open  widely,  as  they  have  visited  our  colony ; 
and  I  trust  that  they  have  gone  away  with 
a  few  new  ideas  in  their  conservative  heads. 

However,  the  line  of  development  in  Circle 
City,  which  has  been  most  unforeseen,  and 
has  gradually  and  encouragingly  opened  to 
us,  is  this  field  of  what  has  been  called 
"  Smaller  Industries,"  or  "  Minor  Industries." 
This  field  has  been  but  slightly  developed  in 
the  United  States,  and  it  affords  opportunity 
for  many  persons  who  are  dexterous  with 
their  hands,  but  are  ill-fitted  for  work  on  the 
soil.  Moreover,  it  largely  solves  the  problem 
of  the  long  unemployed  hours  of  the  hitherto 
unproductive  winter  season.  Not  the  least 
important  factor  in  these  winter  industries 
has  been  the  keeping  alive  the  moral  tone, 
the  self-respect,  of  these  people.  Long  periods 
of  indolent  gossiping  leisure,  such  as  may 
be  observed  in  most  farming  communities, 
during   the   months   of   December,   January, 


FINISHED    PKODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        207 

February,  and  March,  these  exert  a  very 
demoralising  influence  on  the  people,  espe- 
cially on  the  men,  who  have  most  of  the 
leisure  of  these  months.  This  inactive  season, 
coming  each  year,  has  done  much  to  lower 
the  moral  and  intellectual  and  economic 
power  of  the  rural  population. 

In  this  way,  through  our  "  smaller  indus- 
tries," our  little  colony  has  taken  on,  rather 
more  than  we  anticipated,  some  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  manufacturing  village.  None 
of  these  "  smaller  industries  "  which  we  have 
undertaken  require  heavy  and  costly  machin- 
ery ;  and  many  of  them  are  carried  on  in  the 
various  households,  by  various  members  of 
the  families,  some  of  whom  had  supposed 
themselves  useless  encumbrances,  incapable 
of  adding  to  the  family  income. 

In  the  furtherance  of  this  plan  of  utilis- 
ing the  "smaller  industries,"  Colonel  Royce 
and  Doctor  Barton  have  put  themselves  in 
communication  with  various  offices  and  bu- 
reaus, and  have  informed  themselves  carefully 
regarding  many  small  industries,  which  will 


208  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

serve  our  purpose  at  Circle  City.  For  ex- 
ample, there  is  the  manufacture  of  perfumes. 
We  have  noted  that  the  United  States  im- 
ports $300,000  worth  of  attar  of  roses, 
each  year;  and  this  exquisite  perfume  is 
distilled,  not  from  some  rare  Oriental  spe- 
cies of  rose,  but  from  the  commoner  varieties  ; 
and  Doctor  Barton  has  already  arranged  with 
his  relative,  Mr.  Gleason,  to  gather  a  quantity 
of  rose  leaves  from  the  farmers  in  the  towns 
around,  and  these  will  form  the  basis  of  our 
experiment  in  this  direction.  Other  perfumes, 
like  oil  of  geranium,  can  be  perfectly  well 
manufactured  on  a  small  scale,  and  we  shall 
make  some  attempt  at  it. 

One  industry  which  we  are  contemplating 
—  but  have  not  yet  bought  the  "plant"  for 
it  —  is  the  distillation  of  the  essence  of  win- 
tergreen  ;  and  we  expect  to  obtain  it  from 
a  somewhat  surprising  source  :  none  other 
than  the  twigs  and  branches  of  the  black 
birch  ;  our  supply  of  this  kind  of  "  under- 
brush "  is  practically  unlimited,  and  costs 
nothing  but  the   slight   labour  of  gathering. 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        209 

The  product  is  said  to  be  excellent,  in  vitality 
and  delicacy. 

Then,  there  are  many  other  industries,  such 
as  brush -making,  toy-making,  knitting,  arti- 
ficial flower-making,  some  kinds  of  tailoring, 
and  parts  of  jewelry  manufacture,  which  Colo- 
nel Royce  has  studied,  and  for  which  he  has 
made  some  preparations.  We  do  not  expect 
very  great  skill,  in  these  industries,  nor  do 
we  look  for  very  large  returns ;  but  at  least 
one  of  our  two  objects  will  be  gained,  namely, 
the  occupying  our  people  in  work ;  and  then, 
whatever  money  is  earned  by  this  work,  how- 
ever small,  will  swell  the  total  of  the  year's 
income. 

A  few  Italian  families  one  day  said  that 
they  wished  to  try  what  they  could  do  with 
some  hives  of  bees ;  so  we  provided  the 
bees,  and  they  are  thriving,  and  those  dark- 
skinned  people  not  only  are  likely  to  realise 
something  in  money  from  their  work,  but  the 
presence  of  the  bees  (the  big  Italian  variety) 
seems  to  remind  them  of  their  homes  across 
the  sea,  and  is  a  source  of  continuous  delight 


210  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

to  them,  and  puts  them  among  the  most  con- 
tented members  of  our  colony. 

Again,  when  one  man,  an  enterprising 
Irishman,  expressed  a  desire  to  keep  not 
only  the  one  necessary  inalienable  family 
goat,  but  a  whole  herd  of  goats,  Colonel 
Royce,  to  whom  I  referred  the  request,  looked 
into  the  matter,  and  thought  it  very  practica- 
ble, especially  with  the  Angora  species.  One 
day  he  handed  me  the  following  item,  from  a 
daily  paper,  saying,  "  You  see  that  other  peo- 
ple are  thinking  along  our  lines." 


a 


WELCOME,    THE    GOAT. 


"  The  story  of  the  attempt  to  introduce  the 
Angora  goat  industry  into  New  England,  by 
way  of  an  experiment  on  a  somewhat  ex- 
tended scale  in  northwestern  Connecticut, 
which  has  already  been  told  in  these  columns, 
announces,  we  hope,  the  beginning  of  a  series 
of  benefits  to  the  brush-grown  farms  of  this 
section.  This  is  not  the  first  time  that  we 
have  called  attention  to  the  subject,  and  the 


FINISHED    PKODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        211 

probable  advantages  of  such  an  industry ;  but 
it  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  an  actual  test 
of  its  value  is  to  be  made.  The  secretary  of 
agriculture  suggested  it  more  than  a  year  ago, 
and  perhaps  the  present  experiment  is  the 
result  of  that  suggestion;  but  whether  it  is 
or  not,  it  will  be  watched  with  eager  interest 
by  the  farmers  of  New  England.  Goat  farm- 
ing has  been  a  decided  success  in  Texas,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Iowa,  and  while  its  status  in 
this  region  has  yet  to  be  determined,  as  well 
as  its  value  commercial^,  we  have  reason  to 
be  hopeful  of  its  adaptability  to  our  rather 
rugged  conditions. 

"  We  have  frequently  deplored  the  passing 
of  the  sheep  from  New  England  farms,  not 
merely  as  reducing  the  sources  of  profit,  but 
as  depriving  the  land  of  valuable  scavengers ; 
sheep  are  close  grazers,  and  do  not  permit 
that  luxuriant  grass  growth  about  the  roots 
of  trees  and  bushes,  which  results  in  the 
spread  of  brush  until  it  occupies  the  land 
unless  vigilant  warfare  is  made  upon  it.  But 
it  is  said  that  for  this  purpose  goats  have  a 


212  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

greater  value  than  sheep.  They  are  browsers, 
and  not  grazers.  They  live,  during  the  open 
months  at  least,  upon  the  briers,  the  bushes 
and  the  ferns  which  are  frequently  the  despair 
of  the  farmer.  Their  fleeces,  their  pelts  and 
their  carcasses  all  have  value,  and  would  cer- 
tainly pay  for  their  care.  They  are  hardier 
than  sheep,  and  do  more  toward  taking  care 
of  themselves. 

"  There  is  probably  one  discouragement 
about  them,  the  same  that  has  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  prevented  the  farmers  from 
restocking  with  sheep,  and  that  is  the  neces- 
sity of  close  fencing.  The  goat  has  even  less 
respect  for  fixed  boundaries  than  the  sheep. 
He  is  an  enterprising  climber  and  delights  in 
expeditions.  But  he  can  be  kept  within  fixed 
bounds,  nevertheless.  Furthermore,  goats  are 
not  as  easy  game  for  dogs  as  the  more  timid 
sheep.  A  herd  of  these  animals,  with  an 
appetite  that  is  always  asserting  itself,  turned 
into  a  brush-grown  pasture  would  be  as  effect- 
ive as  an  army  with  bush-hooks,  and  in  a 
short  time  would  again  make  it  susceptible  to 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        213 

cultivation.     We  welcome  the  goat  to  New 
England  !  " 

The  result  is  a  herd  of  twenty  goats,  feed- 
ing and  fattening  themselves  on  the  poorest 
pasture-land  we  had  in  the  whole  colony ;  the 
creatures  eat  grass,  weeds,  twigs,  anything, 
and  the  milk  they  give  finds  a  ready  market, 
as  do  all  our  products,  in  the  way  which  I  shall 
presently  describe.  Fencing  these  agile  crea- 
tures in  is  far  easier  now,  in  the  days  of  barbed 
wire,  than  in  the  old  times  of  stone  walls. 

Profiting  by  the  example  of  the  Italian 
families  and  their  bees,  we  have  recently  sent 
away  for  a  supply  of  silkworms,  for  three 
French  families  among  us ;  we  have  only  a 
few  mulberry-trees  on  our  estate,  but  not 
many  will  be  required  for  the  moderate  ex- 
periment which  we  shall  try  in  this  field.  I 
think  that  the  result  will  be  satisfactory,  not 
only  in  money  returns,  but  in  contentment 
and  happiness. 

One  industry  which  will  surely  prove  valu- 
able during  the  winters  is  the  ice-cutting.     A 


214  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

small  but  very  clear  pond,  northeast  of 
Circle  City,  will  furnish  thousands  of  tons 
of  excellent  ice ;  Colonel  Royce  has  had  an 
ice-house  started,  and  has  drawn  plans  for 
some  ice-cars,  to  be  run  on  our  trolley-line ; 
this  project  will  employ  a  dozen  men  a  part 
of  the  winter  very  profitably,  and  the  re- 
markable purity  of  the  ice  itself  will  force  a 
market,  against  the  ice  cut  on  many  tainted 
rivers  and  ponds,  and  used,  with  fear  and 
trembling,  by  many  people  who  read  daily  of 
disease  germs. 

Although  we  started  all  our  families  on 
farm  work  of  some  sort,  and  believed  that 
only  moderate  capacity  was  needed,  under 
such  oversight  as  we  could  give  to  make  the 
labour  productive,  still  we  were  not  surprised 
as  here  and  there  a  family  or  an  individual 
showed  entire  incapacity,  or,  rather,  indo- 
lence. A  half-dozen  of  these  indolent  persons 
we  have  sent  back  in  disgrace  to  their  slums ; 
a  part  of  the  remainder  we  have  transferred 
to  other  kinds  of  farm  work,  and  several 
persons  we  have  drafted  into  our  manufactur- 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        215 

ing  work,   they  showing   more  aptitude  for 
mechanical  work  than  for  agricultural. 

A  large  part  of  our  mechanical  power  has 
been  obtained  from  a  large  stream,  which 
runs  across  a  portion  of  our  territory.  I  will 
honestly  confess  that  when  we  first  planned 
our  colony  we  did  not  appreciate  full}7  the 
immense  advantage  which  could  be  gained 
from  this  abundant  stream  of  water ;  but,  as 
new  ideas  and  methods  have  opened  to  us, 
with  the  actual  working  of  our  colony,  we 
have  seen  that  our  stream  of  water,  with  its 
two  or  three  falls,  is  to  save  us  great  outlays 
for  steam-power.  After  the  first  purchase 
was  made  of  the  tract  of  land  available  for 
the  colony,  Colonel  Royce  quietly  purchased 
a  long,  narrow  strip  running  four  miles  back 
along  this  stream,  thus  securing  three  good 
falls ;  and  with  water-motors  and  dynamos 
established  there,  sometime,  we  shall  control 
all  the  mechanical  power  the  colony  can  need 
for  many  }Tears.  However,  that  is  a  look 
into  the  future.  As  for  the  present  condition 
of  affairs,  let  me  say  that  at  the  first,  where 


216  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

this  stream  crosses  our  main  tract  of  land, 
and  drops  fifteen  feet,  in  one  fall,  a  wheel 
was  put  in  and  electric  power  developed,  and 
this  served  us  excellently.  As  soon  as  our 
trolley-line  was  in  working  order,  we  had, 
through  it,  an  abundance  of  power,  but  at 
higher  cost.  In  the  main,  we  rely  on  the 
power  from  the  water-wheel ;  and  this  power, 
easily  available  and  at  low  cost,  is  a  very 
vital  feature  in  production ;  in  fact,  it  is,  as 
the  members  of  the  syndicate  frankly  state, 
an  important  element  in  our  competition  with 
the  large  factories,  —  a  competition  which  is 
going  on  in  all  the  great  European  countries, 
and  one  that  has  worked  against  the  success 
of  small  industries,  until  electricity  as  a 
motive  power  has  come  into  use.  We  have 
had  some  idea  of  utilising  windmills  in  the 
production  of  electric  power ;  but  this  in- 
volves considerable  risk.  This  field  of  elec- 
trical application  has  not  been  very  much 
explored ;  there  is  but  little  power  in  a  wind- 
mill, and  the  cost  of  storage-batteries  is  pro- 
portionately large.    I  fear  that,  at  present,  we 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS   AND    OTHERS.        217 

shall  not  be  able  to  do  much  with  this  source 
of  mechanical  power. 

Of  course  we  naturally  bethought  ourselves, 
at  the  very  first,  of  the  usual  industry  of 
making  maple  syrup  and  maple  sugar.  Mr. 
Gleason  went  into  that  field  of  activity 
promptly,  and  set  one  of  the  "  Directors  "  to 
picking  out  and  preparing  the  rock  maple- 
trees  on  various  parts  of  the  estate ;  and  of 
these  there  are  several  large  groves,  which 
had  been  previously  worked,  but  not  for 
several  years. 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  a  little  in- 
dustry which,  although  not  carried  on  upon 
a  large  scale,  is  interesting  because  the  work 
involved  in  it  is  light,  and  has  brought  into 
usefulness  several  of  our  women-colonists  who 
were  feeble  in  health,  but  are  quite  competent 
to  do  a  large  part  of  this  work.  I  mean  the 
gathering  and  preparing  of  various  kinds  of 
evergreen,  which  is  sent  to  the  florists  of  the 
metropolis,  and  by  them  is  kept  in  stock,  and 
is  used  very  advantageously  in  their  decora- 
tions for  parties,  balls,  church  festivals,  and 


218  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

the  like.  Of  course  this  field  of  industry 
would  not  amount  to  much,  considered  on 
the  "  producing "  side  alone ;  but  on  the 
"consumer's,"  is  secured  by  friends  in  the 
metropolis,  who  have  learned  about  our  work, 
and  are  very  ready  to  help  open  markets  for 
us.  In  our  next  chapter  I  shall  speak,  briefly, 
of  the  method  we  have  evolved  for  fixed 
regular  sales  at  one  established  market,  or 
depot. 

I  have  always  held  strongly  to  the  theory, 
urging  it  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  the  pulpit, 
that  there  is  in  the  human  world  much  latent 
capacity  and  skill  which  ordinarily  does  not 
find  development,  because  it  does  not  find 
opportunity.  This  theory  of  mine  has  been 
very  fully  substantiated  by  our  experience 
with  our  colonists,  men  and  women.  It  is 
the  parable  of  the  talent  hid  in  the  napkin, 
oft  repeated ;  and  we  have  shaken  the  nap- 
kin, and  brought  to  light  the  talent.  Take, 
for  an  example,  our  little  handicraft  of  book- 
binding. I  have  been  surprised  to  see  how 
readily  several  of  our  men  and  women  ac- 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        219 

quired  not  only  the  manual  dexterity,  but  also 

caught  the  artistic  feeling  which  Mr.  W 

brought  to  their  attention  in  his  brief  course 

of  lectures.     Mr.  W is  a  portrait-painter 

by  profession,  but  has  chanced  to  try  his  hand 
at  book-binding ;  and  we  had  him  out  for  a 
course  of  six  lectures  on  that  handicraft. 
Then  he  gave  a  more  private  instruction  to 
several  of  our  people,  and  the  result  is  that 
some  very  beautiful  work  is  done ;  and,  as 
to  selling  it,  there  is  but  little  difficulty. 
One  look  at  a  copy  of  "  Tennyson,"  or  "  Silas 
Maimer,"  or  Montaigne's  "  Essays,"  in  a 
really  artistic  binding,  makes  every  book- 
lover  long  to  possess  it. 

Take,  for  another  example,  the  industry  of 
embroidery,  which  is  now  firmly  established 
amongst  us,  and  is  paying  a  handsome  per- 
centage of  returns ;  and  we  stumbled  into  the 
work,  too,  not  realising  how  profitable  a  field 
was  opening  to  our  people. 

It  happened  that  Mr.  Clancy  had  a  younger 
sister  who  was  to  be  married,  and  she  needed 
to  have  a  large  number  of  napkins  and  table- 


220  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

cloths  and  other  articles  marked  with  initials. 
Mr.  Clancy,  having  much  in  mind  the  welfare 
of  our  colony,  bethought  him  that  some  of 
our  people  might  be  able  to  do  this  work ; 
and  he  mentioned  the  matter  to  Bridget  and 
to  Miss  Vaughn.  Now  it  happened  that  Miss 
Vaughn  had  received,  the  week  before,  from 
the  mother  of  one  of  her  adoring  pupils,  a 
present  of  a  handkerchief,  marked  with  her 
initials.  There  was  the  clew ;  and,  following  it 
up,  we  have  now  busily  at  work  a  dozen  or 
fifteen  women  and  girls,  on  various  kinds  of 
embroidery,  especially  the  marking  in  linen. 
They  do  the  work  at  odd  moments.  Miss 
Clancy's  linen  was  so  well  done  that  it  gave 
rise  to  inquiries,  and  more  orders  followed, 
until  now  there  are  orders  ahead  for  three  or 
four  months.  Mr.  Clancy  very  naturally  took 
especial  interest  in  this  branch  of  industry, 
and  through  him  our  people  have  worked 
always  toward  perfecting  in  every  possible 
way  the  quality  of  their  material  and  their 
efforts.  Finding  that  the  ordinary  dyes  of 
the   markets    were   mineral  dyes,  and  were 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        221 

likely  to  lose  their  colour,  he  recalled  an  old 
recipe  of  his  grandmother's,  for  a  vegetable 
dye ;  and,  from  that  hint,  Mr.  Gleason  has 
collected  recipes  from  some  of  the  old  people 
in  his  town,  and  the  result  is  that  our  embroid- 
erers can  produce  blues  and  reds  and  yellows 
which  are  pure  and  lasting,  and  easily  prove 
their  superiority,  after  they  are  once  used  and 
tested. 

"We  have  thus  far  not  needed  to  urge,  by 
advertisement  or  in  any  other  way,  the  sale 
of  our  embroideries.  Work  of  so  high  a  class 
as  this  appeals  to  purchasers  who  have  plenty 
of  money,  and  they  examine  and  talk  over 
one  another's  table  furnishings,  and  each 
desires  her  table  and  linen  closet  to  be  as 
beautifully  equipped  as  is  her  friend's.  Our 
embroiderers  have  been  pleased  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  little  club  ;  and  they  read  —  or 
have  read  to  them,  for  some  of  the  older  ones 
cannot  read  —  various  art  journals.  They 
have  sent  specimens  of  their  work  to  three 
or  four  exhibitions  of  "  Arts  and  Crafts  Soci- 
eties," and  have  been  awarded  prizes.     They 


222  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

have  found  it  expedient  to  adopt  a  mono- 
gram, a  trade-mark,  which  I  will  not  attempt 
to  give  here,  but  will  simply  say  that  it  is 
an  artistic  grouping  of  the  two  letters  which 
will  serve  as  the  heading  to  our  next  chap- 
ter. The  designs  for  the  embroideries  were 
at  first  made  by  Miss  Vaughn ;  but  one  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  "  Club,"  an 
Italian,  has  shown  so  much  aptitude  for  de- 
signing, that  overworked  Miss  Vaughn  has 
given  over  the  larger  part  of  such  work  to 
her  hands. 

These  industries,  which  I  have  thus  far 
mentioned,  are  all  of  an  individual  isolated 
character ;  that  is,  one  is  not  related  to  an- 
other, or  dependent  upon  another ;  but  I  now 
must  speak,  in  closing  this  chapter,  concern- 
ing a  certain  class  or  group  of  industries, 
which  has  opened  to  us,  which  we  have 
learned  to  call  "  finished  products."  They  are 
branches  of  work  which  require  tools  and 
machinery  and  the  use  of  mechanical  power 
from  our  electrical  water-motor. 

The  possibilities  of  this  class  of  industries 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.       223 

opened  up  to  Mr.  Gleason  and  to  Bridget  at 
about  the  same  time,  though  from  different 
causes.  In  Mr.  Gleason' s  case  it  happened 
thus.  He  was  standing,  one  day,  gazing  at 
the  bodies  of  three  fat  hogs  which  were  being 
loaded  upon  the  freight-car  of  our  trolley-line, 
when,  as  he  told  me  later,  it  suddenly  occurred 
to  him  that  those  carcasses  comprised  a  value, 
as  they  finally  would  reach  consumers,  of 
twenty  or  twenty-five  dollars  apiece ;  whereas, 
when  they  left  the  hands  of  our  colonist- 
farmers,  they  brought  only  fourteen  or  fif- 
teen dollars.  There  is  a  difference,  reflected 
Mr.  Gleason,  of  eight  or  ten  dollars  on  each 
hog ;  and  who  gets  that  eight  or  ten  dollars  ? 
Obviously  the  men  who  cut  up  the  animal 
and  transform  it  into  lard  and  bacon  and 
spare-ribs  and  all  the  rest,  down  to  the 
bristles,  and  even  the  hoof-cores,  which  are 
made  into  glue.  Thus  reflecting,  Mr.  Gleason 
quickly  saw  —  and  the  rest  of  us  were  quick 
to  see  it,  when  he  laid  the  matter  before  us  — 
that  it  was  wasteful  of  opportunities  for  our 
farm-colony  to  allow  these  hogs  to  go  out  of 


224  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

their  hands  so  soon,  while  there  was  still 
money  to  be  extracted  from  them.  And  there 
you  have  the  birth  of  our  now  rather  exten- 
sive industry  in  "  finished  products." 

Colonel  Royce  and  Doctor  Barton  took  the 
matter  up,  and  soon  had  a  few  convenient 
buildings  erected,  and  we  now  send  to  mar- 
ket—  not  whole  hogs  —  but  pails  of  lard, 
and  cured  hams,  and  the  best  quality  of  sau- 
sages ;  and  on  all  these  we  receive  the  usual 
profit.  Indeed,  beyond  this,  finding  that  our 
"  finished  products  "  from  the  hogs  were  so 
remunerative,  we  have  revolutionised  the  old- 
time  custom  of  the  family  pig-pen,  with  its 
two  or  three  grunting  porkers,  and  its  nox- 
ious odours,  and  have  abolished  all  piggeries 
within  the  neighbourhood  of  the  central  oval, 
and  have  established  an  extensive  piggery 
at  a  remote  corner  of  the  colony,  carefully 
choosing  a  place  with  reference  to  prevailing 
winds ;  so  that  the  existence  of  the  piggery 
never  would  be  suspected  by  a  casual  visitor 
to  Circle  City.  Thus  we  have  simply  done, 
in  regard  to  the  raising  of  pigs,  what  we  have 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.        225 

done  in  every  other  possible  field  of  work,  in 
our  colony ;  we  have  specialised  ;  and  special- 
isation is  scientific  and  economical. 

This  application  of  the  method  of  aiming  at 
"finished  products"  we  have  not  yet  entered 
upon,  in  the  case  of  cattle  and  sheep  and 
goats ;  but  there  is  no  reason,  that  we  can 
see,  which  should  forbid  its  working,  and  can 
prevent  its  giving  profitable  returns. 

I  said  that  this  idea  of  "  finished  products  " 
occurred,  at  about  the  same  time,  to  both  Mr. 
Gleason  and  Bridget.  In  Bridget's  case,  the 
idea  came  to  her  as  she  was  sending  away  to 
market  several  bushels  of  berries,  blueberries, 
and  blackberries,  and  was  calculating  what 
the  value  of  them  would  be,  as  sold  to  city 
customers.  Then  she  happened  to  recall  what 
my  wife,  her  former  mistress,  had  paid  for 
canned  berries.  At  once  she  saw  —  as  Mr. 
Gleason  had  seen  —  that  this  produce  was 
going  out  of  our  hands  too  soon,  before 
it  had  yielded  to  us  the  full  value  that  it 
might;  and  she  saw  that  in  the  preparing  of 
canned  and  dried  fruits  (and  we  afterward 


226  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

included  dried  and  evaporated  apples)  we 
might  have  a  very  profitable  employment  for 
many  of  our  people. 

She  came  to  me  with  this  new  idea,  on  the 
very  day  when  Mr.  Gleason  approached  Colo- 
nel Royce  about  the  hogs ;  and  I  was  glad 
to  lay  Bridget's  plan  before  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  syndicate,  whose  approval  it  soon 
won.  I  amused  myself  a  little,  I  confess,  in 
urging  Bridget  to  present  the  matter,  herself, 
before  that  august  body ;  but  my  attempts 
were  vain.  She  violently  protested  that  she 
would  "  drop  dead  "  if  she  tried  such  a  thing. 
So  the  good  woman  kept  modestly  in  the 
background,  and  I  presented  her  plan,  and  it 
was  carried  into  operation  —  on  a  small  scale 
at  first  —  the  very  next  week. 

At  least  one  other  form  which  our  theory 
of  "  finished  products "  is  likely  to  take,  is 
that  of  articles  made  of  wood,  —  boxes, 
platters,  trays,  some  kinds  of  carved  goods, 
and  the  like.  We  have  large  tracts  of 
maple,  elm,  birch,  spruce,  and  chestnut,  and 
I    think   that    we   shall    soon   develop   this 


FINISHED    PRODUCTS    AND    OTHERS.       227 

branch   of   industry,   wooden-ware,  and   find 
it  profitable. 

However,  all  this  story  of  "  production,"  in 
our  farm-colony  of  Circle  City,  is  only  one 
half  of  the  story  of  industrial  life ;  "  con- 
sumption "  is  the  other  and  equally  impor- 
tant half.  There  cannot  long  be  producers 
—  at  least  of  manufactured  goods  —  if  there 
are  not  also  consumers.  And  the  account  of 
the  market  which  we  established  in  the  neigh- 
bouring metropolis  —  together  with  two  or 
three  other  minor  threads  of  our  narrative, 
gathered  up  —  I  shall  lay  before  you,  in  the 
next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  X. 

c-c. 

THERE  have  been  so  many  interesting 
matters  brought  to  light  in  our  colony 
life,  that  I  find  difficulty  in  restraining  myself 
from  giving  them  in  their  full  details ;  but 
such  minute  narration  might  be  tedious  to 
the  average  reader.  Certainly,  I  could  not 
hope  to  make  it  as  interesting  to  a  person 
outside  the  limits  of  our  group  of  workers, 
as  the  events  themselves  have  been  to  all 
of  us  who  are  closely  identified  with  the 
colony. 

There,  for  instance,  was  the  botanical  dis- 
covery of  a  new  variety  of  the  lettuce  family, 
made  by  the  father  of  one  of  our  boys.  The 
man  is  an  Italian,  and  is  very  observing ;  and 
he  had  become  interested  in  his  boy's  study 
of  botany,  and  followed  along  with  him,  les- 

228 


c-c.  229 

son  after  lesson.  He  seems  to  have  rare 
powers  of  perception  ;  and,  one  day,  he  brought 
to  Miss  Vaughn's  assistant  (hardly  daring  to 
come  directly  to  Miss  Vaughn  herself)  a  plant 
which  he  had  discovered  in  his  pasture,  which 
he  had  analysed,  and  could  not  quite  classify, 
and  the  assistant  could  not  fully  identify 
it  either  ;  finally  it  was  referred  to  Miss 
Vaughn,  and  together  they  worked  out  their 
problem,  and  sent  their  conclusion  and  a  fresh 
specimen  of  the  plant  to  a  professor  at  Yale 
College  ;  the  result  was,  that  our  Italian,  who, 
less  than  a  half-year  before,  was  living  in  the 
slums,  has  a  flower  named  after  him  in  the 
new  edition  of  "  Brown's  Botany." 

That  happened  three  months  ago ;  but  it 
was  a  wonderful  stimulus  to  the  study  of 
botany,  and  indeed  of  all  the  sciences,  and  is 
talked  about  even  now. 

Then  another  incident  which  stirred  several 
groups  of  our  colonists  was  the  correction 
which  was  offered  by  one  of  the  members  of 
the  political  economy  class,  at  a  public  lecture 
one    Sunday   afternoon.     There   were   about 


230  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

fifty  people  present.  Professor  Boone,  of 
Tradford  Academy,  was  giving  a  talk  on  the 
subject  of  "  Great  Men  Versus  Their  Times  ;  " 
and  he  cited  Voltaire  as  a  man  who  had 
moulded  the  thought  and  shaped  the  destiny 
of  the  world.  The  professor  was  conducting 
the  lecture  in  a  familiar  and  informal  manner, 
and  invited  questions  and  suggestions  at  any 
point.  Accordingly,  young  Ignacio  Stagnaro 
raised  his  hand,  was  called  upon,  and  made 
a  little  talk  of  three  or  four  minutes,  explain- 
ing that  Voltaire  gained  many  of  his  ideas 
from  the  English  philosophers,  during  his  stay 
of  a  year  or  two  in  London.  Doctor  Barton 
was  present,  and,  like  the  professor,  was 
quite  taken  aback  at  the  young  man's  learn- 
ing ;  on  inquiry,  it  came  out  that  he  had 
selected  wisely,  and  read  with  great  eager- 
ness, from  our  library.  Doctor  Barton  tells 
me  that  the  young  fellow  has  in  him  the 
making  of  a  scholar,  if  only  he  could  be 
given  proper  advantages.  I  shall  see  that 
Colonel  Royce  is  told  about  him.  The  colonel 
would  be  much  interested,  I  am  confident, 


c-c,  231 

and  might  be  able  to  open  a  path  of  higher 
education  to  the  lad. 

These,  and  many  other  encouraging  inci- 
dents, have  been  happening  all  the  way  along. 
Our  people  have  shown  themselves  happy  in 
their  country  life,  and  the  colony  is  looked 
upon  by  all  of  us  as  really  beyond  the  stage 
of  experiment,  and  now  an  assured  success. 
Our  latest  obstacle  was  the  one  referred  to 
by  me,  in  making  my  last  record  nearly  two 
months  ago.  It  was  the  problem  of  a  market 
for  our  productions,  agricultural  and  indus- 
trial. At  this  present  date  of  writing  that 
difficulty  has  been  substantially  removed,  and 
anxieties  on  that  final  problem  have  been 
allayed. 

We  saw,  soon  after  the  colony  was  well 
under  way,  that  even  in  our  first  season  we 
would  have  a  very  considerable  amount  of 
produce.  Our  hay  crop  we  intended  to  keep, 
as  the  barns,  which  we  had  built  after  the 
houses  were  finished,  were  now  completed ; 
but  the  eggs  and  poultry,  and  butter  and 
vegetables  and  the  like,  were  far  beyond  our 


232  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

home  consumption.  The  trolley-road  put  on 
cars  enough  for  us,  freight-cars  and  refrigera- 
tor-cars, and  we  could  get  the  produce  to  the 
metropolis  very  readily;  but  there  came  the 
difficulty.  Our  overseers,  or  directors,  gave 
great  diligence  to  the  task,  but  found  diffi- 
culty in  selling  the  produce  as  fast  as  they 
would  have  liked.  It  was  recognised  as  of 
superior  quality,  but  the  retailers  were  already 
buying  of  certain  farms,  and  the  work  of 
peddling  the  goods  through  the  streets  was 
unsatisfactory. 

We  had  many  a  talk  over  the  matter ;  Colo- 
nel Royce,  Mr.  Gleason,  Doctor  Barton,  and  I, 
all  wrestled  hard  with  the  problem.  It  fell 
to  Mr.  Gleason,  however,  to  strike  out  the 
plan  which  now  promises  to  solve  our  diffi- 
culties. It  came  to  him  in  the  following 
manner.  He  was  waiting  on  a  customer,  in 
his  own  store,  in  the  neighbouring  village, 
and  she  bought  a  keg  of  Shaker  apple-sauce. 
She  was  a  very  cautious  buyer,  and  she  asked 
him  if  the  apple-sauce  was  really  the  genuine 
old-fashioned    "  Shaker    Apple    Sauce  ; "    he 


c-g.  233 

simply  pointed  out  to  her  the  private  mark, 
burned  by  the  Shakers  into  all  their  kegs  of 
apple-sauce.  After  the  woman  went  out,  he 
began  to  reflect ;  and  the  line  of  his  reflections 
he  laid  bare  to  us  the  next  day,  as  we  were 
gathered  at  Barton  Hall,  after  listening  to  an 
admirable  concert  by  our  energetic  Circle  City 
brass  band. 

"  That  is  the  secret  of  it,"  said  he.  "  As  I 
have  figured  it  out,  we  must  first  have  every- 
thing we  make  of  the  best  possible  qual- 
ity ;  then  we  must  mark  it,  stamp  it,  with  a 
private  mark,  a  sort  of  —  of  —  monogram. 
And  we  can  have  that  mark  protected  by 
law ;  and  then  we  must  make  that  mark 
known  just  as  widely  as  we  can.  That  is 
one  half  of  my  plan.  And  the  other  half 
is  this :  we  must  establish  a  market,  in  the 
large  city  adjoining  us,  and  must  make  it  a 
depot,  for  the  sale  of  our  products  exclusively. 
At  first  we  shall  not  have  so  very  great  a 
variety  to  offer ;  but  the  variety  will  be  much 
greater,  next  year ;  indeed,  with  our  indus- 
trial products  added  to  our  agricultural  prod- 


234  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

ucts,  we  shall  have  enough  to  draw  many 
classes  of  purchasers." 

Mr.  Gleason  paused,  and  waited  for  sug- 
gestions. Colonel  Royce  had  evidently  caught 
his  meaning  very  completely ;  for  he  took  up 
the  idea,  and  said :  "  A  part  of  your  plan  evi- 
dently is  to  make  a  bold  stand  against  the 
1  shoddy '  products  of  our  time.  There  is  a 
strange  readiness,  on  the  part  of  many  people, 
to  buy  poorly  made  clothing,  furniture,  orna- 
ments, and  all  kinds  of  material  objects,  with- 
out facing  the  plain  fact  that,  although  the 
prices  are  low,  the  worth  of  the  articles  is 
lower  still.  The  larger  part  of  the  buyers,  of 
any  city,  are  of  this  class.  Then,  there  is 
another  class  of  purchasers,  who  insist  upon 
having  the  best  of  everything." 

"  And  can  pay  for  it,"  broke  in  Doctor 
Barton.  "  But  most  people  haven't  the  money 
to  pay  for  the  best.     How  about  them  ?  " 

"  You  make  a  good  point  there,"  admitted 
Colonel  Royce.  "  But,  although  social  classes 
are  not  distinctly  defined,  like  veins  of  coal  in 
a  mine,  I  maintain  that,  somewhere  between 


c-c:  235 

those  two  classes,  is  to  be  found  another 
large  class,  and  a  growing  class,  I  be- 
lieve, of  people  who  would  make  some  effort 
to  obtain  good,  sound,  honest  products,  if  they 
could  hope  to  reach  them ;  people  who  could 
deny  themselves  a  little  longer,  and  save  a 
few  dollars  more,  waiting  to  buy  the  really 
good  blanket,  or  chair,  or  brush,  or  hat.  Now, 
it  is  to  meet  that  demand,  it  is  to  use  that 
growing  reaction  against  '  shoddy '  products, 
that  Mr.  Gleason  projects  his  market ;  is  it 
not?" 

The  shrewd  storekeeper  nodded  assent. 
"  Yes,  and  I  don't  see  but  we  shall  be  quite 
up  to  the  time,  quite  in  tune  with  modern 
tendencies,  in  doing  what  I  suggest,  for  I 
don't  see  but  we  shall  really  have  a  depart- 
ment store,  and  nothing  short  of  that,  if  we 
carry  out  this  plan.  It  will  be  simply  gather- 
ing together,  under  one  roof,  a  large  number 
of  diverse  products,  all  offered  and  sold  under 
one  management.  As  I  ventured  to  say,  once 
before,  the  city  '  department  store '  is  only 
the  old  '  country  store,'    raised  to  a  higher 


236  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

power;  and  this  selling-place  for  Circle  City 
would  be  really  inside  the  same  general 
class." 

Doctor  Barton  had  been  listening  intently 
to  the  unfolding  of  this  plan  of  a  market  or 
emporium  for  the  colony,  and  now  he  said  : 
"  There  is  one  thing  which  we  have  thus  far 
avoided,  which  now  we  must  welcome  and 
encourage  ;  and  it  is  —  publicity.  We  have 
thus  far  kept  all  reporters  and  newspaper 
people  as  far  away  as  possible.  We  have  had 
a  good  healthy  instinct  against  notoriety ;  but 
the  time  has  come  to  make  an  advance  upon 
that  position.  It  seems  to  me  clear,  that  if 
we  open  this  market,  or  depot  (or  emporium, 
if  we  desire  a  more  highly  coloured  word), 
we  need  to  have  the  fact  known,  and  the 
emporium  advertised,  as  widely  as  possible." 

"  I  never  saw  any  harm  in  advertising," 
remarked  the  country  storekeeper,  senten- 
tiously ;  and  he  folded  his  arms  firmly,  and 
nodded  his  head  with  conviction. 

There  was  a  pause  of  a  few  minutes,  as  we 
reflected  carefully  upon  this  new  departure, 


c-c.  237 

and  presently  Colonel  Royce  broke  the  si- 
lence, by  saying,  slowly :  "  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  we  may  properly  take  this  step. 
We  are  firmly  established  at  the  colony,  a 
few  hasty  items  have  already  gotten  into  the 
papers,  and,  third,  as  Doctor  Barton  says,  if 
we  are  to  offer  our  goods  in  open  competition, 
the  more  widely  they  are  known,  the  better. 
So  I  feel  inclined  to  give  the  doctor  a  free 
rein,  and  let  him  prepare  the  public  mind,  by 
newspaper  articles  and  all  possible  advertising 
schemes.  His  own  good  judgment  will  keep 
him  from  obtruding  notices  of  our  work  where 
they  will  disfigure  natural  scenery,  or  offend 
good  taste." 

That,  as  near  as  I  can  recall  it,  was  the 
drift  of  the  conversation  on  that  day,  that 
eventful  day  in  the  history  of  Circle  City, 
when  we  were  led  to  establish  our  "  Circle 
City  Market ; "  for  thus  we  decided  to  name 
it.  Land  was  quietly  purchased,  and  the 
building  put  up,  and  a  short  stretch  of  track 
connected  it  directly  with  the  line  running 
out  to  our  colony.     Doctor  Barton  attended 


238  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

to  his  work  very  skilfully;  and,  I  suspect, 
lie  received  valuable  assistance  from  Miss 
Vaughn.  There  were  several  newspaper  ar- 
ticles, one  or  two  editorials,  and  some  illus- 
trated magazine  articles ;  all  these  appeared 
in  due  time,  with  judicious  intervals  between, 
and  the  world  at  large  grew  to  know  a  great 
deal  about  our  new  departure,  and  to  be  much 
interested,  also. 

"  Mere  curiosity  will  bring  us  a  great  many 
customers,  at  first,"  said  Colonel  Royce,  with 
acumen,  "  but  only  the  excellence  of  our 
goods  will  keep  them."  And  every  observer 
of  men,  and  of  trade  laws,  will  admit  the 
force  of  the  remark. 

In  addition  to  the  advertising  methods 
already  mentioned,  Doctor  Barton  prepared 
a  little  manual,  fully  descriptive  of  our  col- 
ony. He  also  started  a  weekly  paper,  printed 
at  Circle  City,  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
the  colony.  Special  numbers  of  this  paper  he 
sent  widely,  to  persons  likely  to  be  interested 
in  economic  and  sociological  matters. 

Doctor  Barton  soon  learned  to  make  im- 


c-c.  239 

portant  use  of  this  little  publication,  in  edu- 
cating the  people  of  our  colony,  regarding 
various  public  matters  of  morals  and  cus- 
toms and  taste.  He  soon  noted,  after  start- 
ing the  paper,  that  a  word  of  suggestion  or 
advice,  which  was  printed,  took  hold  of  the 
people  more  strongly  than  when  it  was  merely 
spoken.  There  was  in  them  that  profound 
respect  for  the  printed  page  which  most  igno- 
rant people  show ;  it  came  to  them  with  a 
certain  mystery,  and  therefore  with  authority; 
and  Doctor  Barton  made  wise  use  of  this 
fact,  and  was  often  greatly  amused  at  having 
quoted  to  him  ideas  and  suggestions  from  the 
paper  which  he  had  himself  written. 

We  have  had  many  letters  of  inquiry, 
which  we  have  scrupulously  answered;  for 
we  hope  that  other  philanthropic  people, 
learning  about  the  possibility  of  reducing 
city  destitution,  may  be  induced  to  follow 
the  lead  of  our  noble  syndicate,  and  attempt 
(probably  with  improvements)  another  colony 
like  Circle  City. 

Of  course  any  financial  plan,  in  order  to 


240  BACK   TO    THE    SOIL. 

succeed,  must  be  in  harmony  with  the  laws 
of  human  conduct ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
plan  might  be  thoroughly  sound  in  theory,  and 
harmonious  with  the  laws  of  human  conduct, 
and  yet  fail,  through  lack  of  careful,  wise 
management.  This  was  a  thought  which 
rested  heavily  upon  several  of  us,  for  some 
time.  Where  could  we  find  the  man  who 
could  take  practical,  immediate  charge  of  our 
market,  and  hold  all  the  details  in  his  head, 
and  make  the  great  emporium  pay  ? 

Who,  indeed,  but  our  shrewd,  faithful 
friend  and  co-worker,  Mr.  Gleason.  When 
Doctor  Barton  mentioned  his  name  to  me, 
I  jumped  at  it  eagerly.  I  saw  at  once 
that  Mr.  Gleason  was  just  the  man  for 
us.  And  so  he  proved.  We  have  not  had 
time  to  carry  out  all  our  plans  at  the 
market ;  indeed  not  half  the  space  is  taken 
up,  as  yet ;  but  enough  has  been  done  to  con- 
vince the  syndicate  that  they  did  well  in 
engaging  Mr.  Gleason,  at  a  large  salary.  He 
is  carrying  on  the  great  market  as  easily  as 
though  it  had  been  in  his  charge  for  years. 


c-c.  241 

He  looks  upon  it,  in  the  main,  as  an  enlarged 
country  store,  and  directs  it  in  much  the  same 
way  that  he  directed  his  own  store  (now  in 
charge  of  his  son)  fifteen  miles  out  in  the 
country. 

I  see  that  I  must  cut  short  the  record  of 
our  colony  ;  but  I  cannot  do  so,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  interesting  and  confidential  rela- 
tions at  present  existent  between  Doctor 
Barton  and  Miss  Vaughn.  It  was  she,  by 
the  way,  who  suggested  our  monogram,  or 
trade-mark,  C-C  (Circle  City),  which  we  now 
stamp  upon  all  our  products. 

The  doctor  seems  to  be  remarkably  happy. 
There  is  about  him  an  external  suggestion 
of  internal,  suppressed  ecstasy,  which  is  un- 
mistakable. I  have  seen  the  same  expression, 
in  paintings,  upon  the  faces  of  saints  who 
were  privileged  to  look  upon  angels  ;  and  I 
think  the  doctor  has  seen  an  angel ;  yes, 
I  know  he  has.  And  when  he  came  to  me 
the  other  day,  and  told  me  that  Miss  Vaughn 
had  been  asked  to  become  a  teacher  in  a 
western  college,  at  three  times  her  present 


242  BACK    TO    THE    SOIL. 

salary,  and  had  refused,  then  I  felt  my  opin- 
ions about  the  two  strengthened  still  more. 
Miss  Vaughn  told  the  doctor  that  she  in- 
tended to  stay  in  the  colony ;  her  work  was 
absorbingly  interesting.  She  would  never 
give  it  up.     Never  ! 

And  the  doctor  grew  more  serious,  as  he 
narrated  this.  Then,  after  a  moment,  his 
face  brightened,  and  he  remarked  that  life 
in  Circle  City  could  be  very  comfortable ; 
and  I  would  not  be  surprised  if  —  if  —  well, 
if  the  doctor  went  out  himself  to  live  in  the 
colony,  and  took  to  himself  a  wife.  Sure  I 
am,  that  if  he  does,  I  will  be  the  clergy- 
man called  upon  to  perform  the  marriage 
ceremony. 


THE    END. 


BBBa 


■'■-■• 


IllfiPliSlr 


11111? 


mBSma  ■- 

WEST 


